
Class _d._Hi. c 

Book JL$.2l 



OopghtN 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE 



Theory and Practice of 
Human Magnetism. 



Translated from the French of 

H. DURVILLE 

(JOURNAL DU MAGNETISME) 



PUBLISHED BY 

THE PSYCHIC RESEARCH COMPANY, 

Time3-Herai,d Building, 

£mCAGO, 



48815 

[Library of Congress 

Copies Received 
SEP 18 1900 

Copyright tntry 
SECOND COPY. 

Oatlver«d te 

0*DL« DIVISION, 
SEP 24 1900 






9^ 






73 



SOi' 

Copyright, September 1900 

by the 

Psychic Research Company, 

Times-Herald Building, 

Chicago. 



PREFACE : 

BY THE 

Publishers of the American Edition. 



TN these days when Magnetic Healers of positive 
and negative ability are inflicting their courses 
of instruction upon the public at prices ranging 
from $5.00 to $100.00, courses of instruction 
which are neither more nor less than "rot" from 
cover to cover, there is a real need for a popu- 
lar work bearing upon the subject of Magnetic 
Healing in all its branches from the hand of one 
who is at least a scholar and a master of his pro- 
fession. Thank God, here's the book! Price 
$1.00. 



INTRODUCTION 

By the Author. 

A good practitioner ought to have not only 
a theory enabling him to explain as nearly as 
possible the effects which he observes, but he 
should also know the theories of the Masters 
who have gone before. In order that future prac- 
titioners may select a theory already laid down, 
or what is preferable, that they may, after re- 
search, experiments, and comparisons, form a 
personal one of their own, it is indispensable for 
me to develop my theory. That is what I will 
do in a very few words. 



PART I. 

The Theory of Magnetism. 

I. General Physics. Theory of emission, 
dynamic theory. Movement, ether and natural 
forces; transformation of forces. II. Magnet- 
ism. Magnetic force, its action, its transmission 
from one person to another, the action of move- 
ment. III. The art of magnetising. Divers 
considerations. How to become a magnetiser. 
IV. Physical laws of human magnetism. Popu- 
larity. Remarks. 



The Theory and Practice 



OF 



Human Magnetism 



CONTENTS. 

PART I. 

PAGE. 

Chapter I. — General Physics — Theory of Emission 
of Flnid — Dynamic Theory — Movement — Ether — 
Transformation of Forces 7 

Chapter II. — Magnetic Force — Its Action— Trans- 
mission from One to Another — The Action of 
Movement 16 

Chapter III. — The Art of Magnetism — Divers Con- 
ditions^ — How to Become a Magnetizer 29 

Chapter IV. — Physical L,aws of Human Magnetism 
— Polarity of the Body — Rules of Magnetic Action 
— Applying Magnetism in Correct Positions 39 



CHAPTER I. 

General Physics — Theory of Emission of FXuid — 
Dyn \mic Theory -Movement —Ether—- Trans- 
formation of Forces. 

My theory of magnetism reposes exclusively 
on the data of general physics. It is based on 
the effects produced by the magnetic force, a 
force, the existence of which, under divers 
names, was known in the remotest antiquity to a 
numerous category of learned observers; not- 
withstanding which fact, it has never been for- 
mally accepted by official science. 

All the writers on the natural sciences con- 
sidered magnetism as a special force of the hu- 
man body; and comparing this force with the 
forces or agents observable in nature, they ex- 
plained its action by the theories of physics 
which were in vogue in their day. 

During the last century and even up to the 
middle of the present, the action of the natural 
forces was explained by the emission of special 
fluids called imponderable fluids, which escaped 
from the body and radiated at a distance. That 
was the theory of emission. Then they had a 
caloric fluid to explain the action of heat, a lu- 
minous fluid to explain the action of light, two 

7 



8 The Theory and Practice 

fluids, a southern and a northern, were separated 
from each other in the magnet; and the same 
was the case with electricity, which had its posi- 
tive and negative fluid. 

Following this theory, the magnetisers all 
adopted the existence of a particular fluid special 
to the human body, namely, a magnetic fluid, 
which, radiating around us, passed from one in- 
dividual to another, as heat, light, electricity and 
magnetism (special to the loadstone) pass from 
one body to the other in certain of their mani- 
festations. This principle served as a basis for 
all the theories of magnetism set forth, from 
Paracelsus down to Du Potet and Lafontaine; 
and we readily conceived that it could not be 
otherwise. 

The science of the present day no longer ex- 
plains the action of natural forces by the emis- 
sion of fluids, however imponderable one might 
imagine them, because these fluids do not and 
cannot exist, since heat, light, electricity and 
magnetism (of the loadstone) are only special 
forms, transformations of movement, that is, 
manifestations of energy. The unity of nature's 
forces is demonstrated most indisputably, and 
the mechanism of their transformations is ex- 
plained by means of a new theory; the dynamic 
or wave theory. 

In determined conditions, the presence of one 



of Human Magnetism. 9 

of the natural forces, heat, light, electricity, mag- 
netism (special to the loadstone) produces one or 
even several others ; in other words, they generate 
each other, and each one of them can change 
itself into all the others. A few examples will 
suffice to bring to the memory these transforma- 
tions, which we constantly observe, but to which 
we scarcely pay any attention. 

If a rod of iron be placed in an ardent furnace, 
it is soon seen that the heat is communicated from 
one to the other. The rod is heated more and 
more, and soon its heat from being dark becomes 
luminous; it first gets red, then white, and pro- 
duces light. In the locomotive and various ma- 
chines heat is transformed into mechanical move- 
ment. In a circuit suitably arranged heat pro- 
duces the electric current which, in its turn gives 
us magnetization, light, mechanical movement 
and chemical analysis. 

An analysis of light will produce colors, and in 
these we observe chemical action, and caloric ac- 
tion; moreover, heat is inseparable from light 
in conditions where, in nature, light impresses 
our retina. You can always have proof of this 
by using a differential thermometer, or, better 
still, with a Melloni pile, in the circuit of which 
electric currents are produced. 
y Electricity circulating in a conductor deter- 
mines heat. If the current is intense, or if any 



io The Theory and Practice 

resistance whatever should interpose in the con- 
ductor, that is, a body offering difficulty in being 
traversed by the current, the point of this resist- 
ance heated beyond measure, becomes luminous ; 
the heat which had been obscure, becomes vis- 
ible in the form of light. That is the principle of 
electric lighting. The electric current also pro- 
duces motive force, i. e., mechanical movement 
and likewise chemical analysis. If we place a bar 
of iron or steel across an electric current, this 
bar becomes magnetised and produces the phe- 
nomena of magnetism which are described in 
physics. This is the principle on which reposes 
the construction of the electro-magnets which 
are used, among other purposes, in our electric 
bells. 

Magnetism (proper to the loadstone) placed 
near a circuit under certain conditions of dis- 
placement, develops electric currents. It is upon 
this principle that the construction of the dyna- 
mos which give us light and motive power re- 
poses, that is, mechanical movement. On the other 
hand, mechanical movement and chemical analy- 
sis produce heat and electricity with which again, 
we obtain light y magnetism, etc., etc. 

At first sight it would seem as if these differ- 
ent agents transform themselves into each other, 
but more careful attention enables us to observe 
that there is only one transformation of move- 



V 



of Human Magnetism. n 

ment. Thus, the electric current, for example, 
is a movement caused and maintained by a force 
of some kind. If there is production of heat by 
the electric current, it is that, by the action of 
electricity, the atoms of the bodies in which this 
electricity circulates are put in motion, and this 
molecular motion constitutes heat. From this 
it will readily be understood that it is not elec- 
tricity itself, but only the movement of electricity 
which is transformed into heat. In the same way 
when an electric current is formed under the 
action of heat, it is not the formation of electric- 
ity which takes place, but only the starting in 
action of the electricity contained in the conduct- 
ors ; heat is changed into electrical motion. 

Now, what is movement? 

Everything which moves, oscillates, vibrates, 
balances, stirs, changes position, goes or trans- 
ports itself from one point to another is in move- 
ment. Movement is everywhere, it is one of the 
essential elements of the life of the universe. The 
stars which are eternally gravitating are in mo- 
tion. All the animals on the surface of the 
earth, from the microbe and the infusory, to the 
thinking being arrived at the highest degree of 
perfection which we can conceive, are in move- 
ment. The constituent elements of the atmos- 
phere in which hurricanes rage are always in 
motion and disturb everything that exists on 



12 The Theory and Practice 

the face of the earth. Our imperfect senses can 
always directly perceive conspicuous, plain move- 
ment, the movement or motion of bodies them- 
selves. But bodies are composed of molecules, 
and molecules themselves are formed of agglom- 
erated atoms, separated from each other by rela- 
tively enormous spaces in which they move. This 
movement of the atoms of bodies changes con- 
tinually because it receives and transmits the 
impulsion which it receives from without by the 
intermediary of ether. 

What is ether? 

Ether is a hypothetical fluid and the only one 
which contemporary physics has retained. It is 
the "soul of the world" of the Peripatetics, the 
"universal fluid" of the magnetisers of the 17th 
and 18th centuries. It is the representation of 
matter in the most subtle state it is possible to 
imagine. Extremely elastic, and having no other 
property of its own than that of transmitting the 
changes of movement, it fills the entire universe, 
in placing the stars in communication with each 
other by the light which they send one another 
reciprocally, by attraction, gravitation and prob- 
ably by certain other forces of which we have 
no knowledge as yet. It fills the interatomic 
spaces of bodies, and enables atoms to impart 
their own special movement, or to transmit that 
which they receive from without, from one place 
to another within a certain radius. 



of Human Magnetism. 



13 



Returning after this digression to movement, 
we find that the movement of atoms is a vibra- 
tory one, and so extremely rapid that, in a given 
time, it is capable of attaining a number of vibra- 
tions which appalls the imagination. As an ex- 
ample, I extract from an address by William 
Crookes to the Society for Psychical Research 
of London, in 1897, the following data laid down 
by that illustrious physicist, who took for his 
starting point the pendulum beating seconds in 
air, and kept on doubling these oscillations. 







Vibrations 






par seconde 


1" degru. 


r 2 




2« - - 


*-« ■'■ • - ■ *• 




* ' - , 


... . .^.?. 8 




4e _ 


. ... ... 16 




5« — f 


. . | . . < . . 32 1 




(5« — 


■". . W. . 64 




V '-*' 


*. . . . . . * 128 




X. - ' 


. .."*.*, • . . 256 




«J« f — 


512 




10- -\ 


. . . . . . \ 1.024 


fiOKi 


H' '-; 


- " ; 2.048 | 


12* f — . 


. f § 4.096 


l 


I3e — * 


". * . . . . 8.192 




I4e - 


.'.%,. . . . 16.384 




i:> c - I 


....... 32.768 


1 


20e — 


. '. . . . . 1.048.576 , 




25* " — / 


./. . . . 33554.432 | 




#>' - 1 

35" - - -. 


.'. . .* 1.073.741.824 | 


fiLEGTBIClTfi^ 


. \ * . 34.359 738.368 


. 


40°. ' — ■ 


- . 1.099.511.627.776 t 
*. 35.184.372.088.S32 ( 




45= >: -', . 


AGENT INCONKtt 


50* , — _ . 
55e * — ' m 


1. 125.899.906.842.6 >4 J 


CHALEUR-LUMISRS 


36.028.707 018.963.963 » 


AGLNT-lNCONNU 


■58« — ' 


288.220.37(5. 151.7 1 1 .744 i 

305.763.009.213.693.952 I 


PROBABLEMENT 


61* — 2 


LES RAYONS X 



At the fifth step from unity, continues Crookes, 
at 32 vibrations per second, we reach the region 



14 The Theory and Practice 

where the atmospheric vibration reveals itself to 
us in the form of sound. Here we have the lowest 
musical note. In the next ten steps the vibra- 
tions per second rise from 32 to 32,768, and here, 
to the average human ear, the region of sound 
ends. But certain more highly endowed ani- 
mals probably hear sounds too acute for our or- 
gans, that is, sounds which vibrate at a higher 
rate. 

We next enter a region in which the vibrations 
rise rapidly, and the vibrating medium is no 
longer the gross atmosphere, but a highly atten- 
uated medium, "a diviner air" called the ether. 
From the 16th to the 36th step, the vibrations 
rise from 32,768 to 34,359,738,368 per second, 
such vibrations appearing to our means of ob- 
servation as electrical rays. We next reach a 
region extending from the 35th to the 45th step, 
including from 34.359738,368 to 35,184,372,- 
088,832 vibrations per second. This region may 
be considered as unknown, because we are as 
yet ignorant what are the functions of vibrations 
of the rates just mentioned. But that they have 
some function it is fair to suppose. Now we ap- 
proach the region of light, the steps extending 
from the 45th to between the 50th and 51st and 
the vibrations extending from 35,184,372,088,832 
per second (heat rays) to 1,875,000,000,000,000 
per second, the highest recorded rays of the 



of Human Magnetism. 15 

spectrum. The actual sensation of light, and 
therefore, the vibrations which transmit visible 
signs, being comprised between the narrow lim- 
its of about 450,000,000,000,000 (red light) and 
750,000,000,000,000 (violet light) less than one 
step. 

Leaving the region of visible light, we arrive 
at what is, for our existing senses and our means 
of research, another unknown region, the func- 
tions of which we are beginning to suspect. It 
is not unlikely that the X rays of Professor 
Roentgen will be found to lie between the 58th 
and 6 1st steps having vibrations extending from 
288,220,376,151,711,744 to 2,305,763,009,213,- 
693,952 per second or even higher. 

In this series it will be seen there are two great 
gaps, or unknown regions concerning which we 
must own our entire ignorance as to the part they 
play in the economy of creation. Further, 
whether any vibrations exist having a greater 
number per second than those classes mentioned, 
we do not presume to decide." 

These vibrations are transmitted to the ether 
by waves in a manner not unlike the motion we 
see on the surface of calm water into which a 
stone is thrown. But the motions are not iden- 
tical, because not only do they vary in speed, but 
also in form and amplitude, and their waves are 
longer. As we have just seen in the table estab- 



16 The Theory and Practice 

lished by the learned Englishman, it is these 
vibrations which produce the natural forces. 
Thus, certain vibrations of a specific nature pro- 
duce heat, others more rapid produce light, 
others varying in speed form and amplitude pro- 
duce electricity, magnetism (proper to the load- 
stone) and the magnetism which is the subject of 
this work. 



CHAPTER II. 

Magnetic Force:— Its Action: — Transmission of 
From One to Another — The Action of Move- 
ment. 

Notwithstanding the aridity of the subject, 
which belongs to the highest problems of general 
physics, I think I have set before the reader 
enough fundamental ideas to enable him to un- 
derstand the mechanism of the wave theory 
which serves at the present time to explain the 
action of nature's forces, and more particularly 
those of heat, light, electricity and magnetism 
(of the loadstone). Now let us see how this 
theory is going to help us to explain the effects of 
the force which I have called physiological mag- 
netism, for the reason that it acts on the organism 
without influencing the magnetic ne^cjl?? 



of Human Magnetism. 17 

To begin with, physiological magnetism, like 
all the forces which are usually called nature's 
agents, is a form of movement, a manifestation 
of energy : and this special force observed in the 
human body and whose action ancient magne- 
tisers explained by the communication of an im- 
ponderable fluid, which they called magnetic 
fluid, is (as already claimed by Puysegur and 
Deleuze) only the action, or virtue, or elasticity 
of the movement proper to all the functions of 
our organism. This action, virtue or elasticity 
of movement without doubt consists of certain 
vibrations of the atoms forming the human body, 
vibrations, the nature, form, speed and mode of 
communication of which are entirely unknown to 
us. It is this movement, transmitted in waves 
through the ether, from one individual to an- 
other, which constitutes what I call the magnetic 
agent. It is therefore a purely physical agent, a 
legitimate brother of heat, light, electricity and 
all of nature's forces. 

That which gives me the most absolute cer- 
tainty that this agent is really a physical agent is 
that we everywhere observe, not only in the 
human body, but also in the animal and vegetable 
kingdoms, in inanimate bodies, in heat, in light, 
in static and dynamic forms of electricity, in the 
magnet, in terrestrial magnetism, in magnetism 
proper to the loadstone, in mechanical movement, 



is The Theory and Practice 

in sound, in chemical analysis, even in odors, that 
it is everywhere subject to the same laws. 

The form of the movement which produces 
physiological magnetism is therefore in every- 
thing and everywhere. It is undoubtedly the 
most universal force of nature that we can con- 
ceive and direct, as well at the bottom of the sea, 
the center of the earth or the highest strata of the 
atmosphere. Although official science has never 
acknowledged this scientific truth, it is notwith- 
standing the most apparent manifestation of 
atomic life, and although we possess no sense to 
perceive it directly, nothing is easier for whoever 
would, to account for its presence by the effects 
it determines on the organism. 

What is the quickness of the vibrations which 
produce physiological magnetism? What is the 
length of the waves? Nobody knows, because 
the attention of the learned has not yet been di- 
rected to the subject. The task, although diffi- 
cult, is not impossible of accomplishment, and cer- 
tainly physicists of the future will be enabled to 
add to classical physics a complete chapter in 
which physiological magnetism will be demon- 
strated in the most rigorously scientific manner. 
Meanwhile everything tends to make me accept 
the theory that the movement which produces 
this force is found in Crookes table, in one of the 
two gaps, the functions of whose vibrations are 



of Human Magnetism. 19 

not yet known, and more especially in the last, 
that is, in the region extending from the 50th to 
55th steps, there where the frequency of the vi- 
brations attains 36,028,707,018,963,968 per sec- 
ond. 

I will not pursue further the comparisons to 
be established between physiological magnetism 
and the other natural forces, thinking it sufficient 
to have demonstrated the analogy which exists 
between them, showing their relationship and 
connection; and of my readers for whom these 
considerations may be too advanced, I subjoin 
the following account of human magnetism 
which Mesmer and his followers called Animal 
Magnetism. 

The atoms constituting the various parts 
of the human body are continually exe- 
cuting vibratory movements, the nature of which 
is not known to us, in other words and to use an 
expression easy of comprehension, the human 
body vibrates in a certain manner, and this vi- 
bratory motion constitutes human magnetism. 

This essentially physical movement is con- 
veyed from one person to another, the same as 
the movement of terrestrial magnetism is con- 
veyed to the magnetic needle, or from one mag- 
net to another magnet, or better still, like the 
movement of a warm body to a body or to a 
medium less warm. An example will make this 



so The Theory and Practice 

clear. A warm body, let us say a lighted stove, 
is placed in a cold room. The atoms from the 
stove vibrate in a certain manner, and this vi- 
bratory movement produces heat. This heat, 
which is one of the forms of movement, is then 
conveyed by waves from point to point in the 
aerial medium, in a space of time as short as the 
energy constituting the source of heat is propor- 
tionately great. Then the room gets warm, and 
all bodies or persons in it participate in this 
warmth, which becomes general, all the sooner 
because they are good conductors of heat. An 
equilibrium of temperature sets in, and exists to 
a considerable extent between the warm body, 
that is, the lighted stove which produces this heat, 
and the ethereal medium, that is, the room and 
the bodies or individuals in it, and the movement 
constituting the heat becomes general by spread- 
ing everywhere. 

Human magnetism is conveyed in a similar 
manner, with this difference only, that, in a great 
many cases, as in the effects of transmission of 
thought, sympathy or antipathy which we feel 
toward a person whom we approach for the first 
time, the transmission is much more rapid. In 
any case, whatever the rapidity with which this 
transmission is produced we may frequently 
notice it in the ordinary conditions of everyday 
life. Here are a few examples : 



of Human Magnetism. 21 

Certain needs which we satisfy excite among 
those around us similar needs. You no sooner 
laugh or yawn than several others feel the need 
of laughing or yawning. If you are gloomy and' 
depressed, and you go among people who all are 
happy and contented, you soon become cheerful. 
And likewise, the reverse takes place under oppo- 
site conditions. A man having a profound con- 
viction (whether justified by reason, or based on 
an illusion of his mind, makes no difference pro- 
vided it be genuine) acts upon those around him, 
and makes fanatics of them like himself. Almost 
all zealous adherents of political and religious 
sects have no other means of subjecting men, per- 
verting their intelligence and submitting them to 
their despotism. In the theater, an actor thor- 
oughly imbued with his part, imagining himself 
to be the real hero he is representing, wakes fear, 
terror or admiration in the spectators, who be- 
come impressed, laugh or cry as the case may be, 
although they are well aware the scene before 
them is only a creation of the intelligence. We 
all know that example is contagious ; joy and sor- 
row, virtue and vice, health and sickness are all 
transmitted. Popular belief justifies this truth in 
the proverb, "Tell me the company you keep, and 
I will tell you who you are." This communica- 
tion of movement, this transmission which oper- 
ates like the heat of the lighted stove does in the 



22 The Theory and Practice 

aerial medium, is certainly the cause of disturb- 
ances by mobs, uprisings of the populace, and 
many other acts which we may notice in a con- 
course or assembly of people. Proof of this com- 
munication may be seen in the propagation of 
certain contagious diseases and affections, and in 
those where the nervous system, as in hysteria 
for example, is more particularly affected. The 
physiologist, not usually understanding the 
mechanism of this communication, attributes it to 
imitation, not realizing that here imitation is but 
the effect of a cause which he overlooks. 

Here are a few more examples not less con- 
clusive. Thought, which is elaborated in the 
depths of the cerebral mass, can be transmitted 
from one person to another, and is a form of 
mental suggestion. I have more than once sat 
opposite a person I know, and an idea occurring 
to me has been reflected in that person, and if I 
have told him the subject of my thought I have 
often obtained an answer like this : "I was think- 
ing of what you tell me, and was just going to 
speak to you about it." The explanation of this 
phenomenon is very simple : 

When the soul thinks, is pleased or suffers, a 
vibratory movement of the brain is produced, 
which is identical in all brains for the same 
thought, the same desire, the same requirement; 
in fine, for the same manner of being of the indi- 



of Human Magnetism. 23 

viduals. This movement, which is conveyed to 
the nervous system, is not extinguished at the 
ends of the nerves, but is transmitted by waves 
to the aerial medium. These waves strike the 
nervous system of persons placed in the sphere of 
their action, and traveling along the length of the 
nerves without change, the vibratory movement 
reaches the brain, where the same thought, the 
same desire, the same want, or the same manner 
of being, is reproduced automatically. This 
transmission is all the easier and more complete 
when the receiving subject is more impression- 
able, more sensitive. A feeble, sickly person bor- 
rows energy from the strong and robust persons 
around him. It is for this reason that the child 
is so happy in its mother's arms, and that the sick 
and convalescent, exhausted by long spells of 
suffering, experience feelings of alleviation, re- 
lief and comfort when in the presence of a sym- 
pathetic friend. The results caused by transmis- 
sion of this nature are innumerable. It is suffi- 
cient to watch ourselves and others, to study the 
nature of the sensations which we feel in the 
various circumstances of everyday life to be soon 
convinced that the greatest number of phenom- 
ena which we improperly attribute to hazard 
are due to one cause, namely, the converse in- 
fluence which individuals involuntarily exercise 
upon each other. This influence is felt in pur- 



24 The Theory and Practice 

suance of the communication of the action of the 
movement of the different persons, which action 
of movement, variable at first, tends to become 
unified and similar in all the persons of a group 
or assembly. 

This is a form of human magnetism which may 
be termed involuntary magnetism. If we observe 
what takes place among animals we see results 
similar to those produced among human beings. 
Naturalists tell us that certain animals feel the 
approach of their enemies from considerable dis- 
tances ; that the wolf exerts a certain power upon 
the dog at a distance of many miles and causes 
him to howl, and we all know that the serpent 
from the foot of a tree fascinates the bird re- 
posing on its top and attracts it to him and de- 
vours it, and that the hawk from a great height 
often deprives the timid lark of all power of mo- 
tion. And all these actions have no other cause 
than that which permits men, consciously or un- 
consciously, to act upon each other. It is a com- 
munication of movement imposed by the strong 
upon the weak ; and the weaker intimidated, fas- 
cinated and mastered by the successive waves of 
the force which takes hold of him, engrosses, 
clasps him and places his life in danger, finally 
feels all the horror of his situation. This is a 
form of magnetism of animals. 

If we direct our attention to the vegetable 



of Human Magnetism. 



& j 



kingdom we notice the same resemblance. The 
attraction which members of the male sex exer- 
cise upon those of the female sex is very great 
both in the vegetable and animal kingdoms, and 
this attraction is particularly noticeable in plants 
at the time they are adorned with all the at- 
tributes of beauty, youth and strength, when they 
array themselves to accomplish the act of genera- 
tion indispensable to the perpetuation of the spe- 
cies. In unisexual flowers, that is, in those where 
the pistil and the stamens are on different flowers, 
such as the willow, corn, melon, and all the 
cucurbitaceae, you can almost always see the 
stamen flowers incline toward the pistils in order 
to deposit there the fecundating pollen, and the 
pistils, not less amiable and complaisant, likewise 
bend down to the former so as to receive the vital 
principle offered them. This attraction is still 
more remarkable in certain species where the 
stamen flowers (males) and the pistil flowers 
(females) are on different stalks, such as hemp, 
etc. This reciprocity of action is constituted by 
a communication of movement established from a 
flower or stalk of one sex to a flow T er or stalk of 
another sex ; and this communication is a form of 
vegetable magnetism. 

Striking analogous cases are also observed in 
the mineral kingdom. All metals are susceptible 
of acting upon us, and, in some manner, of 



26 The Theory and Practice 

modifying our conduct and mode of exist- 
ence, that is, by increasing or diminishing our 
organic activity. This action is determined by a 
particular vibratory movement of the atoms of 
each metal, a motion which by means of succes- 
sive waves is communicated to our movement and 
eventually modifies it. This action of metals 
which has been successfully employed under the 
name of metallotherapy by Drs. Burg and Moni- 
court, in the treatment of certain nervous affec- 
tions, constitutes in the plainest and most indis- 
putable manner, mineral magnetism. 

On the other hand, chemists are aware that 
atoms of metals are attracted, united and ag- 
glomerated in the middle of the earth in order 
to form molecules, which in their turn form ores, 
nuggets, gold dust, etc. 

Two musical strings placed near each other in 
tension, will vibrate in unison when only one is 
put in movement. Two pendulums of equal 
length suspended near each other on the same 
plane of oscillation and started in motion to- 
gether, continue to oscillate, when the oscillating 
movement is only kept up in one of them. This 
phenomenon occurs even where the two pendu- 
lums are separated by a wall. In the most com- 
prehensive, apparent, visible fashion, this phe- 
nomenon is nothing but a communication, a trans- 
mission of the movement of one pendulum to 



of Human Magnetism. 27 

the other. This is the magnetism of mechanical 
movement, which can even be transmitted 
through a medium which is solid, but which is 
impenetrable by light and electricity and only 
slightly penetrable by heat. 

Like electric currents, electrified bodies are 
attracted or repulsed at a distance, and the action 
of electricity employed in therapeutics in a cer- 
tain way constitutes the magnetism of electricity. 

At first it would appear as if the magnet of- 
fered phenomena analogous to those of electric- 
ity. At a distance, two magnets oppose each 
other when they are brought together by their 
same poles, they are attracted to each other when 
they are brought together by their opposite poles. 
At a distance the properties of the magnet are 
communicated to certain metals, such as iron and 
steel, nickel, cobalt, chrome, and these are trans- 
formed into veritable magnets. A magnet hav- 
ing an elongated form like the needle of a com- 
pass, and suspended or poised on a pivot, points 
in the direction of the meridian, obeying that 
form of movement which I have designated by 
the name of terrestrial magnetism. These com- 
bined properties of magnets, the philosophers 
designated by the general name of magnetism, 
but I am obliged to call it magnetism peculiar to 
the magnet in order to distinguish it from the 
magnetism which we see everywhere in nature 



28 The Theory and Practice 

and which is the subject of these comparisons. 
Permit me to say, that in the magnet we observe 
two forces, two different agents which we can 
dissociate from each other and study separately, 
namely, physical force, known to the philoso- 
phers, and physiological force, which was en- 
tirely unknown to them. The latter is similar 
and almost identical with the magnetic force we 
observe in the human body, in animals, in plants, 
and in all bodies or natural forces; it is subject 
to the same physical laws. It is this force, this 
agent, and the various forms of its movement, 
which constitute what we call today the magnetic 
force. 

Briefly, we see that everything obeys a myste- 
rious force the nature of w r hich is unknown to 
us, and to which we might give the name of uni- 
versal movement. The heavenly bodies which 
gravitate in space are attracted tow r ard each 
other in direct ratio of their magnitude, and in 
inverse ratio of the square of their distance. The 
influence of the sun and the moon is felt in the 
movement of the sea, and produces the flux and 
reflux of the tide. This influence is equally 
felt on the health of mankind, on the growth 
of plants and on everything that lives on the sur- 
face of the earth. The odors of plants may 
cause us joy, sorrow, sickness or even death. 
Finally, we see that everything in nature is linked 



of Human Magnetism. 29 

together by laws which subordinate causes to 
effects, and that everything proves that there 
exists between the various bodies or agents of 
nature, a continuous exchange of movement, or, 
if you prefer it, I will say of atoms, effluvia or 
"fluids" which renders the one tributary to the 
other. General movement, which we may here 
style universal magnetism, modified by the move- 
ment special to each body or natural force con- 
stitutes a particular magnetism, just as the move- 
ment of the human body which is the subject of 
our present inquiry constitutes, human or physio- 
logical magnetism, in abbreviation — Magnetism. 



CHAPTER III. 



The Art of Magnetizing — Divers Conditions — 
How to Become a Magnetizer. 

The principal basis of the physical theory of 
human magnetism being established, we will now 
say a few words concerning a higher and more 
transcendental magnetism, viz., psychic mag- 
netism, which certainly holds, as well as the first, 
a place of considerable importance. Admitting 
within us the presence of a psychic element, let 
us say, the soul, we are bound to admit that this 
element exercises an external action from soul 
to soul, and probably from a soul to a strange 



30 The Theory and Practice 

body. The soul must vibrate, and its movement 
of vibration which is very rapid must (like the 
vibrations of bodies composed of matter which 
is apparent to our senses) be communicated by 
waves in the ethereal medium, in the ether, or 
in a still more subtle fluid. Notwithstanding 
the analogies which we seem to foresee, we can 
only hazard hypotheses, because absolutely noth- 
ing is known about the laws which regulate the 
action of psychical magnetism. But it is clear 
that certain individuals do exercise a power at a 
distance, and that thought, desire and will power 
appear to be the principal motors of this action. 
Possibly waves of a particular nature originat- 
ing in the ps^aJajcbody are impelled with velocity 
in a given directioiTTarbeyond the limits which 
the waves proceeding from the action of our 
physical movement could attain. 

Some practitioners, in the front ranks of whom 
I place the healing mediums, often obtain excel- 
lent results without observing any of the rules 
of physiological magnetism. They limit them- 
selves to meditation, to proceeding along the lines 
of thought, prayer, calling to their assistance 
strange beings — spirits — who, they say, furnish 
them with the "fluids'' which they need. I am 
perfectly convinced that healers of this kind are 
highly gifted magnetizers "having a good deal of 
fluid" as they used to say 50 years ago, and while 



of Human Magnetism. 31 

retaining their belief which is perhaps of use to 
them, in putting themselves into a state of ex- 
citation, that is, to determine in them the move- 
ment special to their action, they would obtain 
far more considerable results if, in applying 
their principles they were to observe the physical 
law r s which I have set forth. But I will not stop 
at these considerations which cannot convince 
the healers, because they remain and will doubt- 
less remain a long time yet in their blind faith 
and unlimited confidence in the complaisance of 
the "good spirits" which often haunt their imagi- 
nation. 

While recognizing a psychic mesmerism which 
no one can deny, there yet remains the purely 
physical theory of physiological magnetism 
which explains to us in a clear manner the action 
of matter upon matter, and that of the human 
body upon another individual. A few physical 
and physiological considerations are still neces- 
sary. Atoms, or to speak in terms clear to every- 
body, the various parts of the human organism 
vibrating continually — "the form of this move- 
ment which constitutes the magnetic force, is 
continually escaping from us, and in successive 
waves, is communicated to the ethereal medium, 
to ether, and from there to the individuals placed 
in its sphere of action. But it is good to bear in 
mind that the action most individuals exercise 



32 The Theory and Practice 

upon each other is not very intense. We do 
meet occasionally individuals of powerful ath- 
letic build whose waves are so strong that, in 
spite of themselves, they impress all those around 
them, but cases of this kind are exceptional. 
Properly speaking, magnetic force exists in all 
persons without exception, but beside the ath- 
letes of magnetism, there are the feeble, lan- 
guishing or sickly, whose waves can scarcely be 
transmitted, and they need a tone of movement 
from external sources ; they are, on account of 
their nature, almost incapable of communicating 
their own movement. Strong persons are rich in 
movement and they can give, whereas feeble in- 
dividuals being poor in movement, in their own 
interest ought only to receive it. In addition to 
those who are strong and exercise a beneficial 
effect around them, there exist some strong per- 
sons who exert an injurious influence. I will 
only cite one example. An individual having the 
appearance of excellent physical and moral 
health marries. At the end of about 18 months 
or 2 years his partner falls sick, weakens and 
dies of an affection insufficiently characterized. 
The widower, not liking solitude, remarries, and 
at the end of a similar period of time he is again 
a widower, and will continue to be as often as he 
remarries. The individual unconsciously author 
of these cases of homicide is gifted with a per- 



of Human Magnetism. 33 

nicious action of movement which doubtless 
would exert upon himself a fatal effect if he did 
not exert it outside himself on innocent victims. 
Such cases are unusual, but a sufficient number 
are met with, as everybody is aware of their exist- 
ence. 

This transmission from the strong to the weak, 
from the man endowed with an energetic action 
of movement to the man deficient in it, is pro- 
duced so simply and naturally that in most in- 
stances we hardly perceive its accomplishment 
but by the effects it determines in us, and for 
that it is necessary for us to think of the suc- 
cessive changes which our manner of living is 
subject to. Unknown to us, the movement which 
constitutes our magnetic personality is trans- 
mitted from one to another and tends to become 
equalized in the ethereal medium, like the level 
of a liquid in communicating vases. This man- 
ner of being, this movement which is communi- 
cated from one to another, is certainly magnet- 
ism, but an unconscious, involuntary magnetism 
which is considerably less powerful than artificial 
magnetism. There exists, therefore, a magnetic 
art which, with Lafontaine, we may call the art 
of magnetizing. In the exercise of this art, the 
adroitness of the operator is acquired after long 
practice and the study of scientific knowledge, 
but I will not speak of that here, remaining con- 



34 The Theory and Practice 

tent with presenting a few observations not suffi- 
ciently emphasized already. 

I think we understand that the intensity of the 
magnetic force must depend upon the number of 
vibrations that the atoms (constituent parts of 
the organism) execute in a second, that is, upon 
their precipitate or regular movement. And as 
a matter of fact there are times when we feel 
faint-hearted, dejected, without energy; then we 
do not vibrate enough to magnetize beneficially. 
On the other hand when we are renovated and 
overexcited, we vibrate energetically and we are 
conscious of this increase of activity by a well- 
defined internal agitation ; then we can obtain in 
certain cases, much more important results than 
we can in a relatively calm state. Therefore, in 
order to increase his usual strength and to be in 
a condition to act perceptibly better than in the 
ordinary circumstances of life, the magnetiser 
ought to place himself in a special moral and 
physical disposition^ a disposition similar to that 
he desires to obtain in his patient. He must espe- 
cially place himself in a state of activity, to give, 
while his patient remains in a state of passivity, 
to receive. 

How can he throw himself into that state? 
It is very simple to do, but somewhat difficult 
to explain. First of all, place yourself en rap- 
port morally with your patient. This rapport is 



of Human Magnetism* 35 

obtained by a fairly complex inward power by a 
sort of sympathy and compassion you have for 
your patient, by the intention and desire you 
have to heal, or at least relieve him. Then you 
concentrate his attention in a sort of isolation or 
meditation, as if to gather all his strength and 
power of action. If the patient needs excitation, 
as in the case of paralysis, or where there is only 
general debility, loss or diminution of muscular 
or vital energy, you throw yourself into a state 
of excitation or exaggeration of movement. You 
then feel yourself strong in order to increase in 
your patient the energy of his movement, and to 
raise it to the degree of elasticity it should have 
normally. If, on the other hand, the patient is 
laboring under great excitement, if he suffers 
violent pains, or from fever, the usual symptom 
of acute affections, his vibratory movement is too 
great, and you must reduce it, that is, calm it so 
as to get it back to its normal action; for this, 
you work yourself into a condition of repose, so 
as to transmit it to your patient. 

Magnetic force of itself does not possess any 
therapeutic principle; its action on the human 
body is only that of an equilibriant. The healer 
must never try to do anything else than to equili- 
brate the patient's movement to his own. For 
this purpose, he must be able, at will, to increase 
or diminish the activity of his own movement, 



36 The Theory and Practice 

and give it the proper tone. The highly gifted 
operator easily gets accustomed, even at the start 
of his practice, to promptly bring himself of his 
own volition, into those special vibratory condi- 
tions which he wants to communicate. It will 
readily be seen that if will p ower serves any use 
in magnetizing, it does not, as was generally be- 
lieved in former times, act upon the patient, but 
upon the magnetizer in enabling him to place 
himself in a special physical and moral state 
which induces him to act. This is, moreover, the 
opinion of Lafontaine, whose authority in prac- 
tice cannot be contested. 

I will cite a personal example demonstrating 
beyond question that magnetization does 
really consist in a communication of the mag- 
netizer's own movement to the magnetized sub- 
ject, and that will power is not present in this 
communication. It^-hftsr" happened to me that 
while I was in an excited state brought on by 
anger, a patient in an enfeebled condition has 
come to me for treatment. I felt strong, vibrat- 
ing, capable of acting with great energy, and 
consequently of augmenting the organic func- 
tions of my patient. And during the seance, the 
patient, as a matter of fact, experienced much 
stronger effects than usual, but the next day he 
told me he would have been benefited by the 
treatment had he not felt all day angry and irri- 



of Human Magnetism 37 

table, conditions unusual with him. My state 
of mind, which could not have been detected 
by any outward sign, had therefore been com- 
municated against my own will, for it is clear 
I tried to hide it as much as possible. 

A magnetizer, whether amateur or profes- 
sional, must be strong, robust, complete master 
of himself, and as well balanced as possible from 
a physical and moral point of view ; because an 
operator who is weak would not only weaken 
himself more by magnetizing but, as we can read- 
ily understand, he would have a tendency to com- 
municate to the subject the disease which is the 
cause of his weakness or ill-health, for he could 
not transmit anything else than the action of his 
own sickly movement. But it should be well 
understood, especially in home circles, that in 
all instances where health is normal (which is 
the case with three-fourths of the human race) 
acute diseases can be avoided by taking measures 
in time. And even when a malady does break 
out, it can almost always be rendered mild where 
it might have been mortal. This is equivalent to 
saying that, with sufficient vigilance, w T e can cure 
all sicknesses. But as this vigilance is often lack- 
ing, an acute malady may end fatally, or pass on 
to a chronic state to become incurable. In this 
latter case it is again necessary to know that, to 
a very great extent, we may always, no matter how 



38 The Theory and Practice 

grave the case may be, relieve the patient and pro- 
long his days, in making his existence bearable. 
Magnetism can thus cure or relieve all sickness. 
When this truth is known and understood, we 
shall no longer see one-half of humanity drag 
out a languishing life without the possibility 
of its burden being lightened. In the bosom of 
the family the father will be doctor to his wife, 
and she will be doctor to her husband and chil- 
dren. In obstinate or complicated cases recourse 
will be had to the physician or professional mag- 
netizer, who will know how to bring about a 
cure, or at least, the wished-for betterment. I 
wish to say a few words more about the mag- 
netizer. According to what has already been 
stated, we conceive that there exist individuals, 
highly gifted by nature, who soon become oper- 
ators of exceptional ability, tact and dexterity, 
able to heal rapidly almost all cases; whereas 
many others less highly gifted, possessed of a 
more scientific, theoretical and practical training 
than the first category of persons just referred 
to, will not be able to obtain the same number of 
cures with the same ease. Therefore, among pro- 
fessionals there will always be strong and weak, 
good operators and mediocre operators. It will 
be the duty of such patients as are not magnetized 
at home in their family to be able to distinguish 
the one from the other. 



of Human Magnetism. 39 

CHAPTER IV. 

Physical Laws of Human Magnetism— Polarity 
of the body—rules of magnetic action — ap- 
PLYING Magnetism in Correct Positions. 

I have said that the magnetic agent is subject 
to laws which can be reduced to exact formula. 
I will not give here the scientific demonstration 
of this assertion. It will suffice if I present a 
few indications indispensable to those who will 
only read this work, and if I set forth the general 
laws of human magnetism. 

The magnetic agent offers many points of 
analogy with the other natural forces, heat, light, 
electricity and more particularly with the mag- 
netism proper to the lodestone. And the laws 
which regulate the action of the magnetism of 
the lodestone are those which regulate the force 
of physiological magnetism, whatever may be 
its origin. Moreover, in the time of Paracelsus, 
when the hermetic philosophers established the 
theory of the universal fluid, they recognized 
(and so have all those who have succeeded 
them) that the human body possesses properties 
similar to those of the magnet, and that is the 
reason they gave the name of magnetism to the 
force of this property. Mesmer, who, almost 
at the end of the 18th century, claims to be the 
inventor of magnetism, tells us, "there are mani- 



/ 



"t 



40 The Theory and Practice 

fested, particularly in the human body, properties 
analogous to those of the magnet. We can there 
equally distinguish poles divers and opposite 
which can be communicated, charged, destroyed 
or re-enforced; even the phenomenon of devia- 
tion is observed there. The property of the 
animal body manifested by its analogy with the 
magnet has led me to call it animal magnetism." 




FaNTQME MAGj»|T l(BV8»j 



As has been recognized by Paracelsus, and 
after him Van Helmont, Robert Fludd, de 
Reichenbach, de Rochas and many others, the 
human body is polarized like a magnet, or rather, 
like an assemblage of magnets. It therefore 
has its neutral lines and its opposite poles. The 
poles are the axes around which circulate cur- 
rents similar to those of the pile. They consti- 
tute likewise the principal starting points of the 



of Human Magnetism. 41 

waves which transmit to the ether the vibratory 
movement of the various parts constituting the 
organism, which we may call, as I have said, the 
action of our movement. With this difference, 
that the human body does not attract fire in the 
ether, these waves, leaving each pole considered 
^ as principal center of expansion, behave in a man- 
ner which bears some resemblance to that shown 
by the magnetic phantom for the action of the 
magnet. The accompanying figure makes us 
understand very clearly how human magnetism 
is transmitted through space. I will only say 
here, without further explanation, that the prin- 
cipal axe divides the human body laterally from 
right to left ; that the right side is positive, and 
the left negative. The poles are at the hands and 
feet, while the neutral line is at the top of the 
head. This is the lateral axe. \ Another axe of 
less importance separates the front from the back 
of the body, the front is positive, like the right 
side, the back (spine, nape of the neck) is nega- 
tive like the left side. The poles are at the fore- 
head and at the top of the neck, the neutral point 
is at the perineum. These two axes, which con- 
stitute the entire polarity, are represented by the 
cut, in which we see two interlocked horseshoe 
magnets. A secondary polarity exists, but as a 
knowledge of it is not essential for magnetizing, 
therefore to avoid lengthening out this descrip- 



42 



The Theory and Practice 



tion, I will not speak of it here. By using the 
arithmetical signs X and — , employed in elec- 
trical science to designate the poles of the pile, 
the entire polarity of the human body is thus 
shown. To this distribution of the polarity of 
the human body there are some exceptions: for 
instance, in left-handed persons it is reversed. 
In these persons the right side is always negative, 
and the left side positive. In ambidextrous per- 




POLtUTftD'tNSBMSLS LO COEPS BUMAIIf. 



of Human Magnetism. 43 

sons, i. e., those who use both hands equally well 
for the same object, polarity is inconstant. 

We know that in two bodies charged w-ith the 
same electricity there is repulsion, whereas they 
attract each other when charged with opposite 
electricity. Two magnets repulse each other 
by their same poles, and are attracted to each 
other by their opposite poles. It is the same with 
the human body. Not only two individuals placed 
near each other, act one upon the other as I have 
stated before, but we see that standing, they are 
attracted toward each other or repulsed, accord- 
ing as they present their same or opposite poles 
to each other. An example will make this clear. 
The right hand (positive) presented to the fore- 
head (positive) of subject repulses him, whereas 
the same hand (positive) attracts him at the nape 
of the neck (negative). Inversely, the left hand 
attracts at the forehead, and repulses at the nape 
of the neck. This phenomenon, which is quite 
perceptible in most individuals, is manifested 
with great intensity in sensitive persons, and soon 
causes an increase or decrease of organic activ- 
ity which nearly always leads to contracture or 
paralysis. Bearing in mind the phenomenon of 
increase or decrease of organic activity under 
the action of the same or opposite poles or sides, 
we can readily understand that according to the 
manner of applying magnetism, we can calm or 
excite. 



Y 



44 



The Theory and Practice 

to 





Taking this principle as a basis, I have re- 
duced to three the number of general rules which 
regulate the action of human magnetism, and 
which I formulate as follows : 

First law. — The human body is polarized; the 
right side is positive, the left, negative. 

Second law. — Polarity is reversed in left- 
handed persons. 

Third law. — The same poles excite, the oppo- 
site poles calm. 

In the organism, the magnetic force may be 
considered as anjequilibrating principle; but the 
equilibrium of the whole series of the organic 
functions, the reducing or restoring of this en- 
semble of functions to the normal pitch of the 
motion it ought to attain and not sensibly exceed 
if a good state of health is to be maintained, is 
all the more readily established in that we act 
more in conformity with the laws regulating its 
action. If the magnetizers of old ( who only knew 



of Human Magnetism. 



45 



of one thing, viz., the fluid, transmitted haphaz- 
ard, without method) were able to relieve the 
patients they magnetized, it is clear they would 
have been able to relieve them better and more 
rapidly if they had transmitted this so-called 
fluid, i. e., that form of our movement, in con- 
forming to the laws governing its transmission. 
Referring the reader to the next chapter for the 
description of the practice of magnetism, I will 
only add here that the chief instrument of the 
magnetizer being his hands, in using them con- 
formably to the laws of polarity, he can, at will, 
in a certain measure, calm or excite the ensem- 
ble of the organic functions ; that is, he can bring 
them back to the normal action of their move- 
ment. In the first case, standing in front of the 
patient, it suffices to act with both hands in such 
a way that his right hand is directed toward the 
left side, and his left hand toward the right side, 
as shown by Figure I in the group herewith. 




46 The Theory and Practice 

This is called the heteronomic action, from the 
Greek prefix hetero, meaning different. In the 
second case, standing in front of the patient, as 
before, you cross your hands, or better still, us- 
ing one at a time, you apply your right hand 
to the right side, and your left hand to the left 
side, as indicated by figure II. This is the 
isonomic action, from the Greek prefix iso, sig- 
nifying equal, same. Let me add a few more re- 
marks for those who know the former theories 
or intend to study them. 

Since the revival of magnetism, which took 
place at the beginning of the 16th century, al- 
most all practitioners have attached very great 
importance to the part that will-power pla ys in 
the production of magnetic effects. Raving 
shown that the action of the will is almost noth- 
ing (except for aiding the magnetizer to put him- 
self into a special vibratory condition, an active 
state as distinguished from the passive state 
which the patient is in) I will not return to the 
subject again. 

Under the action of magnetism practiced by 
an experienced operator, an immediate lowering 
of the patient's temperature and fever is visible, 
and the delirium of acute affections ceases as if - 
by magic. The anaemic rapidly regains his 
strength, he who is wasted by a long series of 
suffering experiences, in a single seance, consid- 



of Human Magnetism. & 

erable comfort, enabling him to recover his sleep, 
appetite and lost strength. Th&-4ying are resur-. 
rected in a few hours, and, snatched from the 
brink of the grave, are spared, to give their full 
measure of the work to be accomplished here 
below. In a word, it appears that we transmit 
strength, health and life, or at least a part of the 
strength, health and life which we possess. And 
it is precisely the observation of these vital phe- 
nomena under magnetic action which, from Max- 
well to Lafontaine, has compelled most mag- 
netizers to suppose the magnetic fluid to be noth- 
ing else than our vital principle which is com- 
municated to the patient. Notwithstanding ap- 
pearances, such is not the case. To begin with, 
we cannot retain the vital principle any longer 
because the wave theory suppresses all the fluids 
except the ether, in order to allow only trans- 
formation of movement to subsist. Further- 
more, if there existed within us a vital principle 
which we could consider as a natural force, the 
simplest reasoning would suffice to show that it 
would be entirely different from the magnetic 
force. For, if we find the magnetic force in the 
human body and in living organisms, we also find 
it present in these same bodies after life has j 
abandoned them. Experiments I have made ' 
with the human skeleton and with organs and 
members of dead animals, at varying periods 



48 The Theory and Practice 

after death, clearly prove that the magnetic 
force is still there where the vital principle has 
disappeared. Magnetic force must not be con- 
sidered otherwise than as a special property of 
matter which is manifested by a particular move- 
ment of the atoms of which it is composed. 

If any doubt of this should still remain, it will 
disappear when you consider that, as I have 
pointed out, magnetic force is present not only 
in organic bodies living and dead, but is also seen 
in inorganic bodies, as likewise in all the forces 
or agents of nature. 

Here is another observation which also has 
an important theoretical bearing. Some operators, 
and particularly certain medical magnetizers, 
supposed the magnetic fluid to be identical with 
what the physiologists of the period called the 
nervous fluid, and as far as their knowledge went, 
the two words were synonymous. This identity 
is comprehensible because they thought that 
magnetism acted specially on the nerves, that it 
was more efficacious in nervous than in organic 
affections, and that, while curing nervous dis- 
orders, such as hysteria and epilepsy, it could, in 
some cases, determine mesmeric sleep similar to 
symptomatic crises. Acting on the nerves, it was 
supposed to follow their length throughout the 
different parts of the body. 

Now, in order to rectify this erroneous idea, 
I will only submit one argument. That there 



of Human Magnetism. 49 

does exist in us a nervous force transmitting 
sensitive impressions from without to the brain, 
and motor impressions from the brain without, 
there is not any doubt, but this force, which is no 
longer a fluid but a special form of movement, 
is by no means the same as the magnetic force. 
I will prove it in a few words. The nerves cross 
each other in the depths of the cerebral mass in 
the corpus callosum in such a manner that those 
originating in the left hemisphere are distributed 
over the right side of the body; and inversely, 
those which originate in the right hemisphere 
go over to animate the left side. Now, it is evi- 
dent that the road followed by the motor and 
sensory impressions, is that of the nerves them- 
selves, just as telegraphic or telephonic trans- 
mission follows the length of the wires which 
connect one station with another. If the mag- 
netic force were the nervous force it would fol- 
low, as does the nervous force, the length of the 
nerves, and the hemispheres of the brain would 
be of opposite polarity to their corresponding 
sides. But we know that such is not the case, 
and that all the right side from the sole of the 
foot to near the top of the head is positive, 
while the same parts on the opposite side are 
negative. After this outline of theory, which 
states and explains the purposes of human mag- 
netism, I will proceed to describe the methods 
to be employed in magnetizing. 



PART II. 

The Practice of Magnetism. 

I. Passes. II. Imposition. III. Application. 
IV. Stroking. V. Rubbing. VI. Breathing. 
VII. Concentration of Gaze. VIII. Interme- 
diate Magnetism. IX. Calm and Excitation. 



51 



CONTENTS. 

PART II. 

PAGE. 

Chapter I. — The Magnetic Pass — longitudinal 
Pass — First, Second and Third Positions — Trans- 
versal Pass — Correct Position 60 

Chapter II. — Imposition — Laying on of Hands- 
Historical Facts — Palmar Imposition — Rotary Im- 
position — Digital Imposition — Perforating Impo- 
sition — How to Practice the Movements 68 

Chapter III.— Application of Magnetism in Heal- 
ing — Examples — Curing Congested Head 77 

Chapter IV. — Stroking — Points of Difference from 
Massage — How to Perform Stroking 82 

Chapter V. — Rubbing — Dry and Moist — How to 
Practice Rubbing — Slow Rubbing — Rotary Rub- 
bing 85 

Chapter VI.— Breathing— Breath of Life — Hot In- 
sufflation — How to Practice It — Restoring the 
Dead to Life — Cold Insufflation — How Performed 
— Its Value 93 

Chapter VII. — Fixity of Gaze— Fascination— The 
Evil Eye — Harsh Measures of Influencing Others, 97 

Chapter VIII. — Intermediate Magnetism — Magne- 
tizing Objects — Secret of Magnetism is Vibration — 
Magnetizing Water — Its Extraordinary Effect — 
How to Magnetize Fluids 99 

Chapter IX.— The Purpose of Magnetism — To Calm 
and to Stimulate — Importance of Knowing the 
How and the Why — Directions for Use 108 



INTRODUCTION TO PART II. 

As already pointed out in the preceding chap- 
ter, the action of our movement is communicated 
around us by successive waves, and the extent of 
these waves constitutes the field of our physical 
action. This field of action may be compared to 
the magnetic field of a magnet and to the hertian 
waves which serve as a basis for the demonstra- 
tion of wireless telegraphy. While of much 
greater extent than the magnetic field, it is con- 
siderably smaller than the field of electrical 
waves. 

When a debilitated patient is placed in the field 
of action of a healthy, cheerful, strong and ro- 
bust individual, a communication, a vitalizing 
current is established between the strong man 
and his weak patient, and the equilibrium which 
constitutes health tends to set in in both, without 
their will power having any share in this action. 
It is for this reason that, in the ordinary relations 
of life, the weak seek out the protection of the 
strong, the child is so happy in its mother's arms, 
and that the patient worn out by long suffering, 
feels relief, calm and comfort in the presence of 
a sympathetic and strong friend. It is an uncon- 
scious, involuntary magnetism, the reality and 

53 



54 The Theory and Practice 

importance of which must be patent to every- 
body. Intention, desire, will power, especially 
in the case of one dear to us, give greater impul- 
sion to our magnetic radius, and an intenser cur- 
rent is directed toward the patient. The love of 
a mother for the child which she presses to her 
breast drives away many of its pains, relieves 
others, and spares it from more than one grave 
malady which might not always yield to even the 
best prepared medicaments. This is instinctive 
magnetism, possessing undoubted advantages 
over involuntary magnetism. I will not go into 
the theory of this more deeply, but to make its 
true value apparent, I cite the two following ex- 
amples which are recorded respectively by the 
Marquis de Puysegur, in his Researches Physiol- 
ogiques Sur V Homme, p. 67 ; and by Dr. Foissac, 
in his Rapports et Discussions de I'Academie 
Royale de Medecine Sur le Magnetisme Animal, 

p. 2J2. 

First example. "The Princess de Ligne, nee 
Pozzodi Borgo, who certainly had never heard of 
Mesmer or his doctrine, had one of her children 
in the cradle sick with small pox, and whose side 
she had not quitted since the outbreak of the 
malady. Being obliged to go out on important 
business, she started at a time her child went to 
sleep. Imagine her surprise and fright on re- 
turning home to find all her servants in tears. 
They told her the doctor whom they had sum- 



of Human Magnetism. 55 

moned had not arrived. She questioned them 
further and they told her the child she had left 
sleeping peacefully woke up almost immediately, 
and after crying and complaining for some min- 
utes, the pimples became so faint and flat that 
they could not hide from the mother the danger 
in which her child was. Without answering a sin- 
gle word, without uttering a cry, and paying atten- 
tion only to the maternal instinct burning within 
her, Mme. de Ligne w T ent to the cradle, took out 
her child, and in the transport of despair she put 
him on the ground, his body covered by hers 
and her clothing, and she remained over him for 
half an hour in a sort of trance and as if pros- 
trated or in the depths of the darkest meditation. 
During that time, listening to and hearing noth- 
ing around her, no human force would have been 
capable of taking her away from the place where 
the attraction of her feelings held her magnetic- 
ally fixed, till finally the child's cries reminding 
her of its existence, brought her out of her stupor. 
She got up and uncovered him, he breathed freely 
and his eyes opened again. From that moment 
the sickness followed its course, and the child 
soon recovered its health. This feeling, resulting 
from maternal love, which no resolution or reflec- 
tion had prepared beforehand, is undoubtedly a 
phenomenon of instinctive animal magnetism." 
Second example "Among the cures operated 



56 The Theory and Practice 

by M. Desprez, there is one which it is impor- 
tant to remember, viz., that of his wife. She 
experienced, after a confinement, very serious 
accidents against which all help for the time be- 
ing was unsuccessful. The patient lost her 
strength, and, feeling her end approaching, ad- 
dressed a last good-bye to her husband, and fell 
back apparently quite dead. His confreres (Mr. 
Desprez was a doctor) and his friends, thinking 
her dead, wanted to force Mr. Desprez from the 
room, but, riveted there by hope against hope, he 
refused to leave, and begged to be left alone with 
her. After all had left the room, he hastily closed 
the door, undressed himself, went to bed next to 
his wife, took her in his arms, tried to warm her 
and bring her back to life. At the end of 
twenty minutes she heaved a deep sigh, opened 
her eyes, recognized him, and recovered her 
speech! A few days later she was restored to 
health." 

If our life, our strength and our energy can 
be communicated from the strong to the weak 
without the will-power of either taking part con- 
sciously in this communication, it is evident that 
under the influence of a design thoroughly deter- 
mined upon, of an ardent desire, of a powerful 
will, much more satisfactory results will be ob- 
tained by proceeding according to the rules of 
the art, for then we can regulate our action and 



of Human Magnetism. 57 

bring it to bear upon any desired organ, either 
to soothe or to excite. The magnetic force 
escapes from all parts of the body and radiates 
around us in modifying (were I a believer in the 
fluid theory, I would say in saturating) every- 
thing which environs us. But certain parts of 
the body give out more than others. The three 
principal sources are : The extremities, that is, 
the hands, especially the palm and fingers; the 
eyes — the gaze, and the l ungs — breath. 

There are two kinds of magnetization which can 
be practiced independently of each other, or, what 
is preferable, they may be combined : direct mag- 
netization and indirect or intermediate magneti- 
zation. 

The first kind is operated directly upon the 
patient ; and the second by means of liquids, food 
or objects magnetized beforehand, and which 
are to be absorbed or worn by the patient. I will 
describe first the ordinary methods of direct mag- 
netization. 

In the ordinary relations of life, the hands are 
for man the organ of prehension par excellence. 
In magnetism they become the poles; that is 
to say, the principal centers whence start out 
the waves which carry without us the action of 
our movement. They also serve largely to direct 
the magnetic agent, i. e., the waves constituted by 
the action of our movement, towards the organ 



58 The Theory and Practice 

or portion of the body that thought has indicated 
in advance. 

Healers of all ages, from the greatest miracle- 
workers to the commonest quacks, have used the 
hand as the principal vehicle of their action. 
That is why Homer says in the Iliad that certain 
men have a medical hand, meaning by that a 
hand which seemed to possess of itself the prop- 
erty or virtue of healing diseases. This virtue 
was often limited to distinct maladies, or rather, 
what appears tome most probable, the operator 
restricted in this manner, without being aware 
of it, the extent of his power. Thus Pyrrhus, 
king of Epirus, cured the disorders of the liver, in 
touching the region of the organ, not with his 
hand, but with his foot; another arrested burns, 
while sores, fever, scrofula, etc., were cured by 
as many others ; and all, or nearly all, pretended 
to have this power as a gift from heaven. 

J. B. Thiers relates that certain families had 
the privilege of curing ganglion by touching; 
others, excrescences, etc. Only a member of the 
family of Saint Catherine, and born in March or 
April, could have the gift of these cures. (Des 
Superstitions i, 6 p. 518.) 

This manner of healing diseases by using the 
hand was generally called the touch or touching. 

With some doctors or clever non - mystical 
healers the touching consisted of a series of fairly 



of Human Magnetism. 59 

accurate but complicated manipulations, such as 
stroking, feeling or handling, pressing, rubbing, 
etc., but the mystics only touched while making in- 
vocations. Jesus, Apollonius of Thyane, Simon the 
magician, the emperors Vespasian and Adrian 
have all operated cures, some of them instanta- 
neous, by a simple touching of the hand, or in 
making movements similar to those of the meth- 
ods we employ at this day. The Kings of France, 
from Clovis to Louis XV, touched the sick after 
the coronation ceremony, and healed great num- 
bers. Art has bequeathed to us numerous works 
in which we can clearly see the thought of the 
artist has been to consider the hand as the instru- 
ment of healing. The word touching was so fre- 
quently employed to designate the various opera- 
tions practiced by the hand, that Mesmer and 
Puysegur constantly use it synonymously for to 
magnetize. 

At the present day magnetization by the hands 
comprises a series of rational and methodical 
manipulations, the efficacy of which is proved by 
the experience of three centuries. The number 
of these manipulations may be reduced to five 
principal groups. They are : Passes, Imposition, 
Application, Stroking, Rubbing. 



60 The Theory and Practice 

CHAPTER I. 

The Magnetic Pass— Longitudinal Pass— Fir^ 
Second, and Third Positions — Transversa^ 
Pass— Correct Position. 

The magnetic process which we employ today 
under the name of passes does not appear to have 
been used under this name by the celebrated 
healers of antiquity. They practiced what was 
then called the laying on of the hands, which 
seems to comprise the action of the hand immo- 
bile presented at a distance (our imposition of 
today) and the action of the hand likewise pre- 
sented at a distance but in movement (pass). 
Such at least is what we are able to gather from 
the examination of art records which succeed- 
ing generations have left us. 

I here reproduce three figures in which it will 
be clearly seen, and especially in the third, that 
the hand, or the hands execute movements at a 
distance, and in a downward direction, that is, 
passes as we execute them today. Passes ex- 
ecuted either with one or both hands, are longi- 
tudinal or transversal. 

Longitudinal Passes. — Practice. Longitudinal 
passes are executed either only on the part af- 
fected, on one side of the body or on both sides 
at the same time ; from the top of the head to the 
lower part of the trunk, and even from the head 



of Human Magnetism. 



61 



to the extremity of the feet, and always in a 
downward, never in an upward, direction. 




A longitudinal pass, taking as an example a 
pass executed from the head to the lower part 
of the trunk, is generally practiced in the fol- 
lowing manner: 

You begin on the top of the head and go down 
the length of the trunk. Do not use any mus- 
cular strength. Expose, but do not tender your 
hand, keep it stretched out, the fingers slightly, 
but not widely separated from each other. Your 
hand must be in a flat position, the palm under- 
most, and as if held up in the air; then you let 
it go down, as if you were going to draw with 
your fingers five perpendicular lines on the sur- 
face of the body, or better still, as if you were 
going to distribute in a downward direction— a 
something, no matter what, let us say the mag- 



62 The Theory and Practice 

netic force — which you are supposed to have 
poured on the head and chest. The moment your 
hands reach the limit of their downward course, 
you close them as if to hold for a second the mag- / 
netic force which continues to escape. You then 
bring your hands above the head, being careful 
to lift them up, not opposite the body, as that 
might trouble the movement imparted by the 
preceding pass, but sideways. When your closed 
hands have reached the top of the head you open 
them in extending the fingers slightly as if to 
pour or spread about your handful of something 
(in order to materialize the thought let us say 
a handful of bran) and then you bring them 
slowly down again, as I have just said. 

That was the manner in which most of the old 
magnetizers practised longitudinal passes. 

Starting from the principle that on an organ 
you often execute passes with a single hand, and 
that it is awkward to lift it up sideways, in de- 
scribing an ellipsis, instead of lifting up my 
hands on the right and left of the patient, I pre- 
fer to draw the upper part of my body back, so 
as to separate myself from the patient, and to 
raise my hands a little above the level of the top 
of the head, in passing them with fists closed in 
front of my chest. These two groups of figures 
show the various movements of a pass, which I 
divide into two grades : in the first grade I exe- 






of Human Magnetism. 63 

cute a pass; in the second grade, I prepare to 
execute another. In the first grade represented 
by the figures of the first group, I act as if I 
were pouring out the magnetic force on the pa- 
tient at the height of his or her forehead (Fig. 
i ) ; then I bring my hands down the sides or the 
front of the body (Fig. 2) ; and, continuing their 
course my hands reach the lower part of the 
trunk (Fig. 3). At that stage, the first grade is 
executed, and properly speaking, the first pass 
is done. But I have to prepare myself to exe- 
cute another. For that, as the figures of the 
second group show, I close my hands in drawing 
them toward myself (Fig. 4) ; then, drawing 
back my body so as to separate myself from the 
patient, and bringing my elbows near my body, 
I raise my closed hands, their outside facing the 
patient (Fig. 5) ; and lift them about 3 or 4 
inches above my head (Fig. 6). Then, being 
ready to execute a second pass, I have only to 
turn my hands the palm toward the patient, and 
to pour out the magnetic force (or, as the old 
magnetizers called it, the fluid) on the frontal 
region (Fig. 7), and continue in the same way. 
Practiced very slowly, at a distance of 2 to 4 
ijiches, longitudinal passes charge, saturate~the~ 
body of the subject, and their action usually re- 
sults in a feeling of calm and comfort. A longi- 
tudinal pass executed very slowly takes at least 



64 



The Theory and Practice 



30 seconds. Executed a little faster, at a distance 
*of"6 tu vJ inches, they become stimulating and 




their action is almost always perceptible in the 
form of a mild current which, in the interior of 
the body, follows and even precedes the motion 
made by the hand of the magnetizer. Practiced 
rapidly, in a downward direction at & distance of 
from 12 to 16 inches, they take the name of long 
passes. Their action, which is likewise stimu- 
| lating, clears the head and chest, warms the 
lextremities, carries off the humors and regulates 
\the circulation. Under the action of passes prac- 
tised very slowly, first from the head to the 
stomach, and then on the head only, sensitive sub- 
jects fall into the magnetic sleep. 

It sometimes happens that ^sensitive subjects, 
and likewise nervous patients who are magnetized 
for the first time, experience a feeling of oppres- 



of Human Magnetism. 65 

sion which might even lead to suffocation. This 
little feeling of discomfort is avoided by making 
long passes from the head to the feet, or, better 
still, by making transversal passes on the head 
and chest. 

Transversal Passes. How to practice them. 

Transversal passes have the opposite effect of ^ 
longitudinal passes practiced very slowly. I 
might almost say that if the action of the latter 
is magnetizing, the action of the former is de- 
magnetizing. For they clear and lighten the heavy 
and congested head, arrest all sensation of op- 
pression, wake up the somnambule put to sleep 
magnetically, and always leave a feeling of calm 
and comfort accompanied by an agreeable glow. 

The transversal, like the longitudinal, pass is 
executed in two grades ; in the first grade you 
execute the pass, in the second grade, you pre- 
pare yourself to execute another. 

In the first grade, represented by the four 
figures of our illustration, you see the position 
of the arms, forearms and hands. In Fig. i the 
forearms are crossed at about the middle of the 
chest, the hands are quite wide open, their palms 
facing the patient, the thumbs down, and the 
fingers slightly apart without being stretched out. 
Fig. 2. — The arms are spread out somewhat, and 
the hands with the forearms commence to exe- 
cute a movement of rotation which will turn the 



66 



The Theory and Practice 





hand in such a manner that, the arms being open, 
the palms remain directed toward the patient, 
with the thumbs up. Fig. 3. — The arms are 
stretched out, the hands and forearms turn, and 




iii 



IV 



the movement which has been started, is con- 
tinued. Fig. 4. — The arms are stretched out 
wide and form a horizontal line, the palm of the 



A 



of Human Magnetism. 67 

hands faces the patient, and the fingers are still 
slightly separated from each other without being 
stretched out. 

Second grade. The arms being in the posi- 
tion indicated by Fig. 4, the forearms have only 
to be brought in front of each other by turning 
the hands, in order to return to the position of 
Fig. 1 and to continue rapidly, in successively 
spreading out and crossing the arms, as if to fan 
the patient and agitate the air around him. 

Transversal passes are mostly practiced above 
the head, and on the face and chest, but they can 
also be practiced on the sides, the spine and the 
legs. Their action is calmative, influencing all the 
parts of the body. 

The magnetizers of former times employed 
transversal passes a great deal to loosen the sick, 
or at least, the parts affected. With the theory 
of emission, the use of this method was justi- 
fied, because it was believed that a fluid of bad 
quality enveloped the patient or the parts affected, 
and that it was imperative to get rid of it. Mag- 
netizers of the present day do not loosen their 
patients so much, and they are right. As a mat- 
ter of fact, this loosening does not seem to me 
to be very useful, except when the patient is dull, 
or when his head is heavy, hot or congested. 



68 The Theory and Practice 

CHAPTER II. 

Imposition — Laying on of Hands— Historical Facts 
— Palmar Imposition—Rotary Imposition — Dig- 
ital Imposition — Perforating Imposition — How 
to Practice the Movements. 

The imposition of the hands on the patient is 
one of the most powerful processes of contem- 
porary magnetism. With the ancients, it con- 
stituted the basis of what we might call today 
occult or divine magnetism. It is especially by 
the laying on of the hands that the priests and 
persons initiated in the mysteries of religion in 
Egypt, worked those wonderful cures of which 
history has handed down to us the account. The 
historic wood cut, by an unknown artist, 
represents a seated figure, evidently possessed of 
great moral authority, pointing his left hand, 
armed with a wand, toward a subject who appears 
to have fallen into a fit, appeals to me as the 
most complete demonstration of the practice of 
magnetism by the Egyptians, by the process which 
we call today the laying on of the hands, or, im- 
position. Another, and no less curious figure, 
can be seen at the Bibliotheque Nationale. It is 
a scene from the zodiac of Deuderah representing 
the great Egyptian goddess magnetizing her son 
Orus, whom she holds standing up in her left 
hand, by imposing her right hand toward him. 



of Human Magnetism. 69 

I say "magnetizing her son," because that is the 
interpretation given by Deleuze, and to my knowl- 
edge no other satisfactory explanation has been 
given either before or since. 

With the Hebrews, the laying on of the hands 
was employed on many occasions, not only by the 
prophets and the various healers for healing the 
sick, but also for the purpose of transmitting any 
power from one person to another. On the death- 
bed, the blessing which was to attract to the head 
of him who received it the favor of the Eternal 
was given by the imposition of the hands. The 
gift of prophecy was often communicated in the 
same way, not only by men, but by the Eternal, 
"God laid His hands upon him and he prophe- 
sied." 

If God employed the laying on of hands tow r ard 
man, it follows that men must have employed it 
among themselves. And we find very numerous 
proofs in all the books of the Old Testament 
that they did employ it. I will go even further 
than this and say that they always employed it. 

When Moses designated Joshua to conduct the 
people of Israel to the promised land, he laid his 
hands upon him. "And Joshua, the son of Nun, 
was full of the spirit of wisdom ; for Moses had 
laid his hands on him ; and the children of Israel 
obeyed him, and did as the Lord commanded 
Moses." (Deut. 34.) In the war which Moses 



70 The Theory and Practice 

made with the Amalekites, it was seen that when, 
facing the enemy, he lifted up his hands to 
heaven, his army was victorious, but when he 
was tired, and he let his arms fall, the enemy, 
taking fresh courage, had the advantage. There 
is extant a rare engraving by Golthius which 
represents the lawgiver of the Hebrews in the 
act of laying on his hands in a manner similar 
to that which we use today for transmitting to 
our patients the action of our movement. 

Pious souls instinctively raise their hands to 
heaven (a form of imposition) when they are 
in need of help and consolation. On such occa- 
sions, they do not give, but receive, for they are 
in a passive state, their souls are humbled. 

According to the theory I have expounded in 
the preceding chapter, we can understand that, 
of themselves, and without any supernatural in- 
tervention, an equilibrium tends to set in between 
them and the aerial medium, and that a decided 
improvement must be the result. 

Jesus, whom we see at the age of twelve years 
disputing among the doctors, disappeared from 
the scene of the world, to reappear toward his 
thirtieth year, which is the epoch when his mis- 
sion became clearly defined. What did he do 
during this absence? Nobody knows, but it is 
exceedingly probable that, according to the custom 
of the sages of that remote period, he went to 



of Human Magnetism. 71 

seek initiation in the temples of India, Greece or 
Egypt. In any case, he stored up knowledge, and 
then was revealedas the greatest worker of miracles 
known in history. How did he heal the sick who 
flocked to him? Often by touching, but oftener 
by the imposition of the hands. The text of the 
Gospels alone (leaving aside other historical 
works) proves this abundantly. 

"Now when the sun was setting, all they that 
had any sick with divers diseases brought them 
unto him ; and he laid his hands on every one of 
them, and healed them." (S. Luke iv., 40) "And 
he touched her hand and the fever left her." 
"And he cast out the spirits with his word and 
healed all that were sick." (S. Matth. viii., 15,16.) 

Jesus declares that the power of working 
miracles will belong to all those who have faith 
in him. "He that believeth and is baptized shall 
be saved." The miracles which accompany those 
who shall believe are that "they shall cast out 
devils in my name, they shall lay hands on the 
sick, and the sick shall recover." (5. Mark xvi., 
16 to 18.) 

The apostles continue to heal the sick by lay- 
ing on the hands, and to work wonders. The 
early Christians held their belongings in com- 
mon. Ananias and Sapphira, his wife, selling 
their possessions, kept back for themselves part 
of the proceeds of the sale, and brought the other 



72 The Theory and Practice 

part to Peter. Knowing what had occurred, 
Peter, holding out his hand toward Ananias, re- 
proached him with what he had done, and An- 
anias fell down as if thunderstruck (Acts v.). 
The foregoing argument shows us the mechan- 
ism of this action, and enables us to un- 
derstand how Peter's displeasure, transmitted 
by the imposition of his hand, was sufficient to 
convulse the subject by producing such a shock 
as to result in death. 

Saint Paul was perhaps the apostle Jesus em- 
ployed most in laying on of the hands for heal- 
ing the sick. Being at Malta, where he stayed 
at the house of a man whose name was Melitus, 
and finding the father of this man lay sick of 
fever and dysentery, "Paul went to see him, 
prayed and laid his hands on him and healed 
him." (Acts xviii.) 

After the times of the apostles the early church, 
and later, the exorcists, long employed the impo- 
sition of the hands for healing, and at the epoch 
when peoples' bodies were possessed of demons, 
for expelling these foul fiends and unclean spir- 
its. Our churches and museums contain a great 
number of works of art in which the laying on of 
the hands occupies considerable space. 

In imposition practiced by former magnetizers, 
the pictures showing this process, represent 
graphically the "magnetic fluid" issuing from 



of Human Magnetism. 



73 



the tips of the fingers, by dotted lines, giving an 
exact idea of its mode of communication. Impo- 
sition is divided into palmar imposition and digital 
imposition. 

Palmar imposition. How to Practice it. Palm- 
ar imposition is practiced by presenting the 
palm of the hand at a distance of about 2 to 4 or 
even 8 inches from the part we wish to act upon, 
and in holding it in that position for a time vary- 
ing from 1 to 5 minutes. This imposition is 
usually done with one hand only, as shown in the 
figure herewith, but it can be done with both 




hands at the same time. It exerts a slightly 
stimulating effect when practiced in a heteronom- 
ous position, i. e., when the left hand is directed 
toward the right side, and the right toward the 
left side. 



74 



The Theory and Practice 



Digital imposition. How to practice it. Dig- 
ital imposition is usually executed with the right 
hand, the fingers extended, firm, slightly sep- 
arated from each other and directed during the 
same time at a distance of from 4 to 6 inches 
toward the parts you wish to act upon, as the 
figure herewith shows. 




'Rotary imposition. How to practice it. If a 
more powerful effect than the preceding be 
needed, the hand and the fingers being in the 
same position, you gently describe a concentric 
circle on or around the organ or the part it is 
desired to act upon, taking care that the motion 
of the hand is guided from left to right, i. e., in 
the same direction as the hands of 3 watch move. 
In this manner, the action of the movement works 
in agreement with the human magnetism, trans- 



V 



of Human Magnetism. 75 

mitted by the hand, and the action of the latter 
is considerably augmented. This process is 
termed rotary imposition. 

Perforating imposition. How to practice it. 
If the fingers, being in the same position, and 
still slightly apart, but instead of executing ro- 
tary motions are turned and twisted around as if 
to perforate or bore a hole, the action becomes 
still more exciting. This process, which I call 
perforating imposition, is somewhat difficult to 
practice, and still more difficult for a teacher to 
explain if he does not combine practice with 
theory. 

Under the action of rotary and particularly of 
perforation imposition, the patient soon perceives 
within him a motion similar to that executed near 
him by the hand of the operator. This movement, 
almost always accompanied by warmth, consid- 
erably augments the circulation and the secre- 
tions, separates and draws out stagnant humors 
and dissolves congestions in determining at first 
a phenomenon almost similar to that produced in 
an impure liquid when agitated with a stick. The 
right hand imposed on the forehead of a sensitive 
subject, standing up, renders his head heavy, pro- 
duces warmth and brings on a sort of discomfort 
accompanied by aversion. The left hand imposed 
on the same part produces contrary effects. 
Whether the imposition is palmar or digital in 



76 The Theory and Practice 

leaving your hand in place without moving it, 
the first suffices to induce sleep in a very sensitive 
subject, the second to wake him up. 

Imposition is generally employed on a patient 
to stimulate the functions and in such a case it 
is good to practice it in the isonomous position. 
Digital imposition exerts a more energetic in- 
fluence than palmar imposition, rotary imposi- 
tion is still more powerful, and the maximum 
of action is obtained by the use of perforating im- 
position combined with hot insufflation; this last 
process furnishes the magnetizer with the great- 
est amount of power he could wish for. There- 
fore the first method must be employed in all 
cases where it is required to slightly stimulate 
or regulate one or more functions of the body, 
and the second where it is necessary to excite 
them. Rotary and perforating imposition must 
be reserved for the treatment of obstinate con- 
stipation, congestion, obstruction, tumors and 
for certain cases of extreme debility. The aug- 
mented arterial action resulting from the use of 
this last method being considerable, it is neces- 
sary to point out, that it must not be used on 
starting treatment of a patient unless he is only 
slightly nervous and impressionable, because, par- 
ticularly with hysterical persons, convulsions 
might ensue, and these are unnecessary and con- 
fusing for a practitioner at his first attempts. 



of Human Magnetism. 77 

CHAPTER III. 

Application of Magnetism in Healing— Examples 
—Curing Congested Head. 

In his work Medicina Aegyptiorum, Prosper 
Alpini states that certain Egyptian women healed 
dysentery by placing their hand flat on the pa- 
tient's navel. A papyrus recently discovered by 
Ebers in the ruins of Thebes contains this form- 
ula : "Place thy hands on him to soothe his pain, 
and say : let the pain disappear/' confirms the use 
of the application of the hands by the Egyptians, 
in the treatment of disease. In the Histoire dit 
Ceil, Vol. I, Pluehe publishes a very curious 
figure (plate XI) which he calls the awakening 
of Orus. On a bed, represented by the body of 
a lion, a child, Orus, is seen all swathed up, ap- 
parently asleep. Near him, Anubis applies his 
left hand to the child's chest, raising the right 
hand toward Isis standing at the head of the bed, 
as if to implore his aid. This figure plainly shows 
us an application of the hand which we might 
call today a magnetic application. 

From a bas-relief also we learn that the appli- 
cation of the hands was employed by the healers 
of Greece. Standing up, a young man is seen, 
with his head inclined and bearing the expression 
of sad discomfort ; a seated figure is laying her 
right hand on the patient's left temple, while her 



78 The Theory and Practice 

left hand is applied to the abdomen, clearly for 
the object of relieving him. Pliny, in book 7 of 
his Natural History, expresses himself as follows 
concerning the application of the hands prac- 
ticed by certain persons: "Crates of Pergamus 
has written that there was in the Hellespont, not 
far from Parion, a particular class of men called 
ophiogenes, who possessed the gift of healing by 
touch the bite of serpents, and of extracting all 
the venom from the body by only applying their 
hands to it." Throughout all periods of history 
we find examples of the action of the hands ap- 
plied to the sick. Here is one all the more curious 
because neither the one who relates it, nor the 
operator, could have known anything about mag- 
netism, and because in any case, the apparent 
object was not to heal. 

"Being extremely ill," says Mme. Guyon in 
her Memoires, "they sent for Father Lacombe to 
confess me. As soon as he entered the house 
my pains subsided, and after he had blessed me, 
in my room, by laying his hands on my head, 
I was absolutely well enough to go to mass. The 
doctors were so astonished at it that they did 
not know to what to attribute my recovery, be- 
cause, being protestants, they were not inclined 
to think it a miracle." (Charpignon, Physiologie 
med et metaph du Mag. 1848, p. 153.) In the 
17th century an Irish knight of the name of 



of Human Magnetism. 



79 



Valentine Greatrakes acquired considerable fame 
in healing sicknesses by touch (as it was then 
called). The annexed illustration, copied from 
a book of the period, shows us that touching is 
practiced in the form of the application of the 
hands. The patient appears to be suffering from 




violent toothache, and, to calm it, the healer is 
applying his hands in a heteronomous position to 
the sides of the face. The figure, doubtless drawn 
from nature, may serve as a model for all those 
cases where application of the hands has to be 
made on the face with the object of calming. 

In Turkey, where the practice of medicine is 
free to all without a license, the application of 
the hands in healing sicknesses is very general 
everywhere. 



so The Theory and Practice 

From Therapeutique Magnetique, another of 
Du Potet's works, we copy the figure showing the 
application of the fingers in an isonomous posi- 
tion practiced on the external orifice of the ears 
with the object of curing deafness. 

How to practice the application of the hands: 
As you will have been able to judge from what 
has been said, the art of making applications con- 
sists in placing or applying the hands flat on the 
parts to be worked upon and to maintain them 
there for a greater or shorter length of time. I 
say the hands, because they are used oftenest, 
but when it is necessary to work the region of the 
back and the lower part of the spinal cord, there 
is advantage in using the knees and also the sole 
of the feet. » Seated in front of the patient, apply- 
ing your hands to his chest, you set the knees 
against his knees and the feet against his feet. 
You also place one or more fingers on the nerve 
centers of the brain and spinal cord, on the eyes, 
ears and on whichever part of the body you wish 
to concentrate your action. 

For headache brought on by a congestive state, 
the operator, placed at the left of his patient, had 
best apply the palm of his hands to the forehead 
and back of the neck, the fingers slightly apart, 
and pointed to the air instead of being flat on 
the top of the head. In this case it would appear 
that the surcharge of the head escapes at the tips 



of Human Magnetism. 81 

of the fingers, just as static electricity does by 
the ends. And indeed the operator clearly per- 
ceives a sensation of glow which, in the form of 
a current, escapes from the extremity of each 
finger, and the patient's head is gradually re- 
lieved. 

As a calmative the applications are made as 
much as possible in a heteronymous position, ' 
whereas for exciting, it is preferable to practice 
them in the isonomo us p osition. Their action is s 
gentle and sound and they generally bring on 
after a few moments, a sensation of warmth all 
the more pleasant that the hands are cooler, par- 
ticularly when the malady is of an inflammatory 
nature. In such instances it is advisable to plunge 
your hands into cold water frequently, so as to 
remove any unpleasant warmth communicated by 
the patient. 

The practice of applications is suitable for all 
cases. Employed by itself it removes neuralgia 
and _calmjsun^ arly every acute pain . Beginners 
especially should use them for a few seconds at 
the start of a sitting so as to establish (as Deleuze 
and Lafontaine have both pointed out) without 
any sudden transition, the rapport started be- 
tween the magnetizer and the magnetized. The 
action of application being very mild, you avoid, 
in sensitive subjects, the attacks of convulsions 
which are always disagreeable, and often as dis- 



82 The Theory and Practice 

couraging for operators who are beginners as 
for the patients. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Stroking — Points ok Difference From Massage — 
How To Perform Stroking. 

Stroking consists of a slight touching repeated 
several times on the part it is desired to bring 
into action. It is in a measure a series of appli- 
cations in motion or longitudinal passes practiced 
with contact. Stroking is borrowed from the 
usual methods of everyday massage, but with this 
difference that the magnetizer does not stroke in 
the same manner as the masseur. To begin with, 
the masseur operates directly on the patient's 
nude body, whereas the magnetizer strokes upon 
the clothes. The masseur with his strong manipu- 
lations, has for his particular object the acting 
mechanically on the circulation which drives the 
blood back to the heart. In order to do this he 
must exert a certain amount of pressure, starting 
at the extremities to arrive at the head, con- 
sidered as the center. The action of the mag- 
netizer, at a distance or by slight contact, has 
direct influence not on the circulation, but on the 
nervous system, which governs all the functions 
of the body, and his experience shows him that 



of Human Magnetism. 83 

its action is specially felt on the motor nerves 
which lead from the brain, considered as the 
center, to the extremities. On account of the 
indisputable principles, for, the masseur as well 
as for the magnetizer, the latter's stroking should 
always be downward, and the masseur's strok- 
ing is always upward. 

And here I would offer a few words of import- 
ant advice to young operators. They should, as 
much in the interest of their patients, as in order 
to establish their own personal theory, not only 
attentively study the effects of the various proc- 
esses comparatively with each other, but vary 
the execution of each one of them. Now, for 
stroking which, practiced sometimes in an up- 
ward, sometimes in a downward, direction, the 
young operator will find that his patients will be 
unanimous in declaring that the first mode of 
execution is rather disagreeable to them, while 
the second is always agreeable. And inasmuch 
as an unpleasant sensation felt by a patient under 
the action of any manipulation is never of any 
use to him from a curative point of view, only 
such methods as are agreeable, and leave him 
after the seance, in a good physical and moral 
impression, should be employed. 

Stroking, especially when practiced toward the 
end of the seance, regulates the magnetic action, 
clears the head, eases difficulty in breathing, and 
tends to warm cold hands and feet. 



84 The Theory and Practice 

How to practice stroking. It is practiced on 
the greatest number of surfaces by applying the 
hands flat, the fingers slightly apart, and in 
bringing them down again from the upper to the 
lower part of the body, without any appreciable 
pressure. If you w r ant to stroke the entire body, 
you do it in two movements, first from the head 
to the waist, then from the chest to the extremi- 
ties. Standing up, and your patient sitting, you 
can work on him with both hands, and the proc- 
ess may be divided into two grades. First 
grade. Apply both your hands to the temples, 
and thumbs directed vertically toward the middle 
of the forehead, being about an inch or an inch 
and a half apart, while the fingers, slightly apart, 
rest upon the auricles as shown in the figure. 
Second grade. In taking care to curve in your 
hands to enable them to pass over the pavilions 
of the ears and yet stroking the sides of the 
throat, shoulders and forearms as far as the 
tips of the fingers. Replacing your hands in their 
position of the first grade, you go down the neck 
in following the direction of the sterno-cleido- 
mastoid muscle, then on the front of the chest as 
far as the waist. After repeating this operation 
five or six times, you sit down in front of your 
patient, and applying your hands to his chest you 
bring them down to the extremities, omitting the 
stomach, intestine, the thighs and legs. In order 



of Human Magnetism. 85 

to practice stroking everywhere or over almost all 
parts, you again apply your hands to the lateral 
parts of the chest and bring them down to the 
extremities in passing (on the right) over the 
region of the liver, and (on the left) over that of 
the spleen, over the back, the hypochondrium, the 
external sides of the thighs and the legs. When 
the patient is in bed the stroking is practiced in 
a similar manner. 



CHAPTER V. 



Rubbing— Dry and Moist — How to Practice Rub- 
bing — Si,ow Rubbing — Rotary Rubbing. 

Rubbing is a strong or weak friction exercised 
upon a part of or the entire body, either with the 
hand alone or with a brush, glove or cotton cloth. 
It is also the action of passing the hands on the 
body, parts of the body, or in exercising a deli- 
cate pressure, a sort of gentle massage. Rubbing 
is said to be dry when it is practiced with the 
hand only, or with instruments only; it is said 
to be moist when there is added any liquid or 
semi-liquid substance, (grease, oil, alcohol, vine- 
gar, etc.) either pure or medicated. Magnetic 
rubbing is always dry and practiced with the 
hand only ; in massage it is sometimes moist, and 
is likewise practiced with the hand alone. 



66 The Theory and Practice 

Rubbing produces a stimulating effect on the 
peripheric innervation. The circulation is accel- 
erated, the blood flowing quickly through the 
veins gives increased color and warmth; and 
finally nutriment is assimilated in normal condi- 
tion. This excitation, limited at first to the 
functions of the skin, is transmitted to the sub- 
cutaneous tissues, then to the veins, muscles, 
nerves, and to the deepest organs. We instinct- 
ively apply it to ourselves to combat the feeling 
of cold on the uncovered parls of the body, and 
especially on the hands, to lessen the painful sen- 
sation produced by a blow, or a fall, etc. This 
shows its use dates from the remotest antiquity. 

Prosper Alpini tells us in De Medicinae Egypt- 
iorum that medical and mysterious rubbings 
were the secret remedies used by the Egyptian 
priests for healing incurable diseases. Hippoc- 
rates wrote a treatise on frictions which has 
not come down to us, but he refers to it in his 
"Treatise on Articulations" in the following 
words : "A doctor ought to know many things ; 
he should not be unacquainted with the benefits 
to be derived from rubbing. With its applica- 
tion quite contrary effects may be produced; it 
loosens stiff joints and gives tone and strength 
to those which are relaxed." Celsus, one of the 
great physicians at the beginning of the Christian 
era, was an ardent partisan of the practice. In 



of Human Magnetism. 87 

his works published in French under the title of 
Traduction des ouvrages de Aurelius Cornelius 
Celse, sur la medicine, he gives a detailed account 
of massage and enumerates the chief diseases 
which can be cured or relieved by this method. 
After criticising Asclepiades' book, in which the 
author declares himself in favor of frictions, Cel- 
sus tells us that its use had been long known, and 
that what Asclepiades writes about it had all been 
written before by previous physicians. Thus, 
Hippocrates is said to have written, that violent 
friction hardens and delicate friction softens the 
tissues ; that long continued friction emaciates, 
and when of short duration it produces corpu- 
lence. "Then," Celsus continues, "if we wish 
to consider all these kinds of rubbing, w T hich, 
however, do not at all come within the province 
of medicine, we shall see that they all proceed 
from the same cause, which consists of suppres- 
sion. For you do not bind up a thing but in re- 
moving that which rendered it lax, you only sof- 
ten another in carrying off that which caused 
the hardness; we get stout, not by rubbing, but 
by the nourishment penetrating to the skin, which 
has been previously loosened by friction. The 
cause of these different effects depends, there- 
fore, only on the manner of operating the rub- 
bing ; it is necessary to use emollients and to rub 
the body gently in acute diseases, even in their 



88 The Theory and Practice 

incipience, provided there is diminution in inten- 
sity of the fever, and before meals ; on the other 
hand, there is danger in using strong rubbing in 
grave maladies where the patient gets worse (un- 
less in cases of pleurisy) when you wish to pro- 
cure sleep for patients. Therefore, rubbing 
should only be employed in maladies of long 
standing and which begin to decrease. It is as 
dangerous to use rubbing in the paroxysm of 
fever as it is useful to use it where the malady 
begins to diminish. We should even wait as long 
as possible, till the fever has disappeared, or at 
least, till it has lost its intensity. Rubbing is op- 
erated sometimes over all parts of the body, as 
when we wish to induce embonpoint in a slim 
person; sometimes only locally, when the weak- 
ness of that part requires it. Rubbing calms 
headaches of long standing, provided, however, 
the manipulation is not done during violent pain. 
It sometimes happens, also, that rubbing restores 
a paralyzed member. It is usual, however, to 
practice the rubbing on the parts that are not 
infirm. Friction on the lower parts, for instance, 
after relieving the middle or upper part of the 
body. Some manipulators are desirous of fixing 
the number of rubbings to be made on a person. 
But they are wrong, because this depends en- 
tirely upon the strength of the subject needing 
them. Fifty rubbings on a weak subject are 



of Human Magnetism. 89 



A -z? 



enough, whereas a strong man couid stand two 
hundred, in proportion to the strength of opera- 
tor and subject. Thus, we give few T er to a wom- 
an than to a man, fewer to a child or an old man 
than to a young man ; finally, if you rub only cer- 
tain parts, the rubbing should be hard and last 
some time, since it is impossible to enfeeble the 
body quickly by only rubbing one portion of it, 
and that it is necessary to drive away much mat- 
ter, whether you want to clear the thin part you 
are rubbing or any other part; but if the weak- 
ness of the entire body requires that the rubbing 
be used equally all over it, it ought to last less 
time and be more gentle, so that it suffices to 
soften only the surface of the skin in order for it 
to be in a condition to receive the new matter 
which will be furnished to it by food to be taken 
immediately after the rubbings. We have al- 
ready mentioned that the patient was in great 
danger when he was thirsty and burning inside, 
while the outside of his body remained cold. The 
only help in such a case is rubbing; if it brings 
warmth to the body externally the patient can 
recover." 

In Rome at the time of Celsus ( ist century) all 
classes of society employed frictions; those who 
were in good health went to be rubbed to main- 
tain their health, and those who were ill were 
rubbed to recover it. The athletes were rubbed 



90 The Theory and Practice 

all over their body, so as to be more agile, and 
old people in order to get strength. From Rome 
the use of rubbing (to which were added emolli- 
ents and some of the manipulations of massage 
as we have it today) soon spread all over the Ori- 
ent, where it has been preserved to the present 
day. Alexander of Tralles, a celebrated Greek 
physician of the sixth century, and one of the last 
of those initiated into the mysteries of the pious 
ancients, often employed rubbing. Following the 
example of Celsus, he teaches that, practiced on 
the lower members, rubbing throws off morbid 
matters, calms the nervous system and facilitates 
perspiration. It calms convulsions, and acts 
powerfully against dropsy, because it opens the 
pores, lessens and divides the humors. In crises 
of epilepsy he executed moderate friction longi- 
tudinally on the members ; then he felt and gently 
touched the eyes. He makes mention of the effi- 
cacy of the secret frictions of the Egyptian 
priests, and specially points out two charac- 
teristics that most magnetizers of today still con- 
sider indispensable in producing magnetic power, 
namely, great confidence on the part of the sub- 
ject, and strong will power on the part of the 
physician. He affirms that it was to these secret 
rubbings Hippocrates alluded when he said that 
such things ought to be shown to sacred persons 
and not to the profane. If we are to believe Pe- 



of Human Magnetism. 91 

ter Borel, a learned historian who was physician 
to Louis XIII., rubbing was even used to cure 
fever. "A man named Degoust," he says, "clerk 
of the court at Nismes, healed and does heal 
every day a multitude of persons sick with the 
fever only by rubbing their arms, and he found 
out he possessed this gift by observing that all 
the persons whose arms he rubbed got better 
when he attached amulets around their wrists, 
and when he discontinued attaching amulets the 
people continued to heal just the same, by the 
rubbing only." In northern countries, when 
freezing threatens the parts of the body exposed 
to the air, especially the nose and ears, dry rub- 
bing is applied to quicken the circulation of the 
blood, and if frozen, the part is rubbed with snow 
or iced water. In syncope, after having taken off 
the clothes covering the chest, some physicians 
recommend the use of rubbing on the praecordia, 
and the method has a certain amount of efficacy. 
In reviving the bodies of new born children in a 
state of apparent death, dry or moist rubbings 
are used (moist with wine, vinegar, alcohol, etc.) 
on the chest, back, the soles of the feet and the 
palms of the hands. In the treatment of the ap- 
parently drowned, in most cases of paralysis, di- 
minished circulation, general debility, violent 
pains, acute rheumatism, etc., rubbing with emol- 
lients is effective. Rubbing has, therefore, con- 



92 The Theory and Practice 

siderable importance even apart from massage 
and magnetism, and on this account it is indis- 
pensable to know the practice according to the 
rules of the magnetic art, which is most simple 
and can be understood by everybody. 

Hozv to practice rubbing. In magnetism there 
are two kinds of rubbing, the slow and rotatory. 

Slozv Rubbing. Slow rubbi-ng is practiced 
gently by following, in a downward direction, the 
lines of the nerves and muscles. The hand must 
be flat out, the fingers separated and slightly 
turned in, so that the entire hand to the tips of 
the fingers drags or presses on the part you are 
working. In drawing along your hand you must 
agitate all the joints in exercising a series of 
slight pressings, as if, from place to place, you 
wanted to detach and then carry along something 
adhering to the skin or subcutaneous parts. Slow 
rubbing is stimulating. Practiced on the inter- 
ested muscles and from the spine to the sternum, 
it is very efficacious against atonic affections of 
the chest, and especially against oppression es- 
soufflement, and the very painful attacks of asth- 
ma. Practiced on the sides of the body and on 
the legs, right down to the feet, it exerts an effect 
like that of the long passes. 

Rotatory Rubbing. Is performed in describ- 
ing concentric circles with the palm of the hand, 
just stroking on the clothes the part you wish to 



of Human Magnetism. 93 







activate. The effect of rotatory rubbing is ex- 
citing, especially when practiced from left to 
right, i. e., in the direction in which the hands of 
a watch move. It is practiced over all parts of 
the body, but preferably on the plexus and the 
vertebral column, for combating atony of the 
nervous system, on the head, liver, stomach, in- 
testine, and the back, whenever these organs lack 
activity; against gout, humors, obstructions and 
engorgements of all kinds. The masseur always 
practices frictions on the naked skin, whereas the 
magnetizer does so over the clothes. I would 
observe that the rubbing which does the most 
good is that which is practiced gently, almost 
without muscular force, and only by handling 
and stroking. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Breathing — Breath of Life— Hot Insufflation — 
How to Practice It— Restoring the Dead to 
Life— Cold Insufflation— How Performed— 
Its Value. 

Breath is the most apparent sign of material 
life. After having formed man from the dust 
of the earth, the Creator animated it, Moses tells 
us, in breathing into it the breath of life. When 
the soul abandons to the earth the perishable 



94 The Theory and Practice 

body it has nourished, our usual expression is 
that we have rendered our last breath. It is by 
the breath that the Cevennes prophets communi- 
cated the prophetic inspiration to those who, up 
till then, had escaped the influence of that relig- 
ious enthusiasm, and by which some exorcists 
healed the possessed. 

When we breathe freely we offer all the ap- 
pearance of health, while shortness of breath 
and difficulty in breathing often show general 
weakness and almost always a want of equilib- 
rium in the vital functions. The lungs, which 
are the organs of respiration, are therefore in a 
robust and healthy man an important source of 
vital energy which he can utilize for the good of 
his fellow man, weakened or enfeebled by sick- 
ness. The annals of history relate many cases 
where unexpected cures have been brought about 
by breathing. Arnobe tells us that, from time 
immemorial, there were among the Egyptians 
men who, by means of touching and breathing, 
triumphed over diseases which medicine had 
been unable to relieve. Mercklin tells us that 
a young child was brought back to life by the 
breath of an old woman (Tractatus medico- 
physic, p. 116). 

In the work already mentioned Peter Borel 
says that in his time (1628-1689) there still ex- 
isted in India a sect of doctors who cured sick- 



of Human Magnetism. 95 

nesses by insufflation. The same author relates 
that a domestic, returning from a voyage and 
finding his master dead, tenderly and repeatedly 
embraced the inanimate body. Thinking he still 
discovered some signs of life, he breathed his 
breath with persistence into it in order to reani- 
mate it, and at the end of some time the master 
returned to life. "Is it astonishing," he adds, 
"that the breath of man should produce such re- 
sults when we read that God breathed into the 
body of Adam to give him life? It is a fraction 
of this divine breath which even today can bring 
back health to the sick." 

Delancre, the celebrated demonomaniac, says : 
"There are also certain persons in Spain called 
insalmadores, who heal by the saliva and by the 
breath." 

The action of breathing has always held a high 
place in therapeutics, and even today the physi- 
cian employs, concurrently with repeated draw- 
ing of the tongue, insufflation from mouth to 
mouth against asphyxia and especially against 
apparent death of new-born infants. Therefore, 
there is in this action a considerable source of 
energy which may be attributed to two chief 
causes; 1, a mechanical cause; 2, a magnetic 
cause, which concur reciprocally to produce the 
effects observed. Magnetizers, who have always 
employed the action of breathing with success, 



96 The Theory and Practice 

give this process the name of insufflation, and 
they practice, as the case may be, hot insufflation 
and cold insufflation. 

Hot Insufflation. This is the most powerful 
of all magnetic processes. From the point of 
view of modality its action is positive, but on ac- 
count of its force, it is exciting, or at least stim- 
ulating, on all parts of the body. 

How to practice hot insufflation. This insuf- 
flation is practiced in two different ways — by con- 
tact and at a distance. In the first case, the lips 
slightly apart, leaving the mouth half open, are 
placed upon the skin, or better still, upon some 
light piece of clothing covered with a clean tow- 
el or handkerchief ; and in pressing, so that the 
breath does not escape, and as if it could pene- 
trate the skin and the subcutaneous tissues, you 
force it energetically by a prolonged expiration. 
In the second case you breathe at a distance of 
half an inch or an inch, just as you do in winter 
to warm your hands. This insufflation can also 
be practiced with a tube, one end of which you 
apply to the part you wish to act upon, but bet- 
ter results are always obtained by the first 
method. 

After three or four hot insufflations practiced 
in this way on the part of the body or diseased 
organ, the patient experiences an internal warmth 
which powerfully increases the organic activity. 



of Human Magnetism. 97 

We at once understand the importance of this 
process for cases of atony of the viscera, paraly- 
sis, humors, obstruction and stagnation. Op- 
erated on the heart, syncope ceases immediately 
in almost every instance. But when its action is 
too exciting there is danger in some cases, and 
for this reason it must never be employed where 
there are deep w r ounds nor against aneurism of 
the heart and the aorta, nor for pulmonary 
phthisis in the third degree of its development. 
How to practice cold insufflation. This is al- 
ways practiced at a distance, in blowing as if to 
put out a candle. Being negative, its action is 
the opposite to that of hot insufflation. Instead 
of exciting, it is calming, especially on the front 
of the body. Practiced on the forehead, it quick- 
ly awakens the magnetic sleeper and clears a 
heavy and congested head. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Fixity of Gaze — Fascination — The Evii, Bye — 
Harsh Measures of Influencing Others. 

The eye exercises a powerful magnetic influ- 
ence, and we all know that there are some persons 
with a slow and fascinating eye whose concen- 
trated gaze we find it difficult to support. It is by 
the power of the eye that the dog arrests the 



98 The Theory and Practice 

partridge, and the serpent fascinates the bird and 
attracts it to him. With the tamer the eye con- 
stitutes the weapon which has the strongest hold 
on the wild animals of a menagerie. As sickness 
can, in a measure, be communicated by waves 
from one person to another, just the same as 
health, it has been supposed, not without rea- 
son, that the gaze of some persons produces a 
disagreeable effect, and the name of evil eye has 
been applied to those who exercise or are capable 
of exercising this power over their fellow man. 
Exaggerating this property of the eye considered 
in its worst aspect, we may easily understand that 
at the time sorcery flourished, there were per- 
sons who believed in the power of the jettatores, 
i. e., certain sorcerers who were supposed to 
throw lots by the evil action of the eye. If we 
admit that the eye of certain persons can influ- 
ence others in an unpleasant or obnoxious way, 
it is clear that the kind and benevolent gaze of 
a sympathetic friend in robust health can have 
a salutary effect. The gaze allowed to fall softly 
on a patient facing you at a distance of two or 
three yards exercises a deep calmative effect, and 
may be employed with success in acute affections 
and also when there is enervation, irritability 
and excitation of the nervous system. Fixity of 
gaze may be used by itself, but it is generally 
advisable to employ it in conjunction with other 



of Human Magnetism. 99 

modes of magnetization, i. e., with application, 
imposition or rubbing, and you should allow 
your gaze to descend gently to the parts you are 
operating on, so as to obtain increased results. 
I n longitudinal and long passes your gaze must 
follow the movement of your ha nds. The gaze 
must fall softly on the patient or on the parts 
to be calmed, because if you look with a harsh 
gaze, indicating your determination to act en- 
ergetically, instead of being calmative, the effect 
would be stimulating and the desired result would 
not be obtained. As to staring into the patient's \ 
eyes for the purpose of fascinating, it is a harsh 
process, the magnetiser abandons it to the hvg- 
notiser for sending his patients to sleep. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Intermediate Magnetism — Magnetizing Objects — 
Secret of Magnetism is Vibration — Magnet- 
izing Water— Its Extraordinary Effect — How 
to Magnetize Fluids, 

In all times and with nearly all peoples a pre- 
servative and curative virtue has attached to cer- 
tain objects, such as phylacteries, amulets, talis- 
mans, coins, and objects blessed or consecrated, 
which had received an influence they were sup- 
posed to transmit to those wearing them. Philters 

LrfC. 



ioo The Theory and Practice 

and certain noxious objects could transmit the 
evil influence they had received and could carry 
with them the principle, the cause of sinister pas- 
sions, sickness and misfortune. Making allow- 
ance for exaggeration, there is, in traditions, cus- 
toms and superstitions that antiquity has handed 
down to us, a considerable portion of truth 
which official science has not recognized. In any 
case, it is demonstrated that, to use an expres- 
sion of the old magnetizers, almost all the bod- 
ies of nature are charged, saturated more or less, 
with the magnetic agent, that they retain this 
saturation for a certain period, and that, while 
it lasts, an action of some kind may be observed. 
This property of the magnetic force of settling 
in various bodies has been made use of for indi- 
rect or intermediate magnetization, i. e., practiced 
by the aid of certain bodies magnetized before- 
hand. With the wave theory, it would be more 
rational to say that the vibratory movement of 
the atoms of the magnetizing body is transmit- 
ted to the atoms of the body magnetized ; that a 
certain equilibrium tends to set in, and that the 
two bodies try to vibrate in unison. It is then 
that the magnetic property of the one is commu- 
nicated to the other. As words do not alter 
things, I will continue to use the expressions 
formerly employed, because they explain in a 
better manner the results obtained. 



of Human Magnetism. 101 

All bodies are not charged with magnetism to 
the same extent ; we might say that all have not 
the same magnetic capacity. Liquids are, of all 
bodies, those which absorb it in the greatest de- 
gree and retain it the longest. Cotton and wool- 
en stuffs, glass and metals also possess great 
magnetic capacity. Metals, which have their 
own polarity, are even valuable auxiliaries, for 
some become saturated with only positive fluid, 
w r hile others only take negative fluids. Thus 
with them we can bring to bear on a determined 
point of the surface of the body an exclusively 
calming or exciting action. Silk can only be 
charged with much difficulty, and may therefore 
be considered as an insulator. It can be used 
to advantage for covering magnetized objects 
to preserve them against contact with the air, 
which gradually discharges them. Magnetizers 
attach great importance to magnetized water for 
patients to drink, either pure or mixed with wine, 
at meals. It is also advantageously employed 
for injections, irrigation of the stomach, for lo- 
tions and compresses. We can, nay, we should, 
in the course of a treatment, magnetize most of 
the food. Terrestrial magnetism, light, heat, 
chemical action, sound, and movement may be 
employed in magnetizing the various substances 
and divers objects which serve as intermediaries 
between the magnetizer and the patient, but the 



102 The Theory and Practice 

most powerful and practical mediums are, first, 
human magnetism, and then the magnet. 

Human Magnetism, In order to magnetize a 
piece of stuff, a sheet of glass or metal or any ob- 
ject, it is held in one or other of the hands ac- 
cording as you wish to magnetize positively or 
negatively, or else alternately in both hands, if 
mixed magnetism is desired. Then you execute 
passes or digital imposition, and after that, in- 
sufflation. At the end of five or six minutes the 
saturation is complete; the object is magnetized. 
To magnetize liquids you place them in a vase, 
basin, cup or glass, and execute passes and dig- 
ital imposition with either or both hands. If the 
liquid is destined for external use, you can put 
your hands in it and practice hot insufflation on 
it. According to the quantity of liquid to be mag- 
netized, complete saturation requires from four 
to ten minutes. 

Magnetism of the Magnet. A horseshoe, or 
any other magnet, can be employed, but the mag- 
netic bar I use is preferable on account of its ac- 
cessories, as shown in the adjoining figure. To 
magnetize a piece of cloth, a sheet of glass or 
metal or any object, you place it in contact with 
one of the poles of the magnet, or with both suc- 
cessively. You can dispense with placing the ob- 
ject to be magnetized in direct contact; all that 
is necessary is to place it in the field of its action. 



of Human Magnetism. 



103 



To magnetize a liquid you can likewise place the 
vase containing it in the field of action of the 
magnet, but it is preferable to plunge into the 
liquid the silver needles at the end of the conduct- 
ing wires of the bar. Saturation is completed 
in from ten to twenty minutes, according to the 
quantity of liquid tonSeTriagnetized. I would 
here state to users of this bar that in order to ob- 
tain from it the maximum of magnetic action, it 
is necessary to use it horizontally in the direction 
from east to west, the X pole towards the first, 
the — pole towards the second, and that when 
not in use it should, if it is to retain its force, be 
suspended horizontally, or placed on a bureau or 
tall piece of furniture in the direction of the me- 
ridian, the X pole toward the north. An im 



: 




portant remark may be made here. A liquid or 
any object charged with human magnetism re- 
tains its property for a long time, but charged 
with the magnet or any other mode of magnet- 
ism it loses very rapidly, so that after eight or 
ten days there remains no perceptible effect. The 
action of fire scarcely weakens human magnet- 
ism, but it destroys almost entirely that of the 



104 The Theory and Practice 

magnet and the other bodies or forces of nature. 
Consequently you must not heat to the boiling 
point any water but that magnetized by human 
magnetism. To give an idea of the therapeutic 
value of magnetized water, even by the aid of a 
magnet, I think it instructive to reproduce here 
a personal observation. A few years ago, at 
the clinic of the Ecole pratique de Magnetisme 
et de Massage, attended Thursdays and Sundays 
by twenty to thirty-five patients each seance, I 
proposed to them to give them water magnetized 
by the action of the magnet, so as to hasten their 
cure. I did not praise the properties of this wa- 
ter, remaining satisfied with saying that I had 
often observed its good effects on patients. They 
almost all accepted my generous offer, and in 
exchange for their promise to render me an ac- 
count of the effects they might observe, I handed 
a bottle of it to each one. The water, placed in 
a great tub in my laboratory, was subjected for a 
whole night to the action of a horseshoe magnet 
set at 240 pounds. I had the patients' bottles 
filled during— tfTe~~seance, and then returned to 
them, so that they could employ the contents at 
home. Those affected with sores, weak eyes, 
or skin diseases used it in lotions and compresses ; 
those suffering from organic complaints took it 
internally, pure or mixed with table wine, while 
9thers utilized it for gargling, injections, etc. 



of Human Magnetism. 105 



*?r 



Right from the start the most salutory effects 
were noticed by nearly all the patients. In inter- 
nal complaints digestion was better, appetites 
more regular, discomfort ceased, pains dimin- 
ished; and in those suffering from constipation, 
laxative effects were observed without any ap- 
parent exterior cause. In internal maladies the 
sores healed better, the weak eyes were sensibly 
stronger, and all the patients claimed to have in 
the water one of the most valuable remedies they 
had ever used; so that, at each sitting, not one 
missed bringing his bottle, some even coming 
for a supply between the seances. A good many 
were so satisfied with the water that they sent for 
it and discontinued coming to the clinic to be 
magnetized. 

This first part of the experiment lasted two 
months. I listened attentively to the observa- 
tions of each one without sharing their enthusi- 
asm, because I thou ght their imagination p layed, 
if not the principal part, at least considerably 
helped the real effects naturally resulting from 
the action of the magnetized liquid. But I had 
no difficulty in deciding between imagination and 
genuine effect, and the following account of what 
I did will form the second part of the experi- 
ment. One fine morning, without saying any- 
thing, I handed the same water to each patient, 
but without its having been magnetized. If im- 



/ 



106 The Theory and Practice 

agination played any part in the production of 
the phenomena observed these should have con- 
tinued to occur almost in the same way, because, 
not knowing that I was experimenting, their 
confidence in me was the same. But it was not 
so. At the following seance, and without my 
asking them anything to avoid any suspicion, at 
least two-thirds of the patients told me they had 
not found in the water that particular flavor it us- 
ually had, and that its effect had been nil or in- 
significant. In a few, whose imagination might 
have helped the effect of the remedy, say in a 
fourth of the patients, there were some good re- 
sults; but all were quite sure that if the water 
of the last seance was magnetized, it was less 
so than that of previous seances. I told them it 
ought to be to the same extent, and that if the 
effects appeared less considerable, it could only 
be owing to some fault of their own when using 
it. Admitting this reason, they again willingly 
took away another bottle (which was no more 
magnetized than the one before). Whatever 
remained of imagination disappeared completely, 
for all the patients were absolutely unanimous 
in saying the water had produced no effect at all. 
I advised them to continue with it, in giving the 
most suggestive arguments, but only a few con- 
sented to keep on with the trial, which, it must 
not be forgotten, had been producing excellent 



of Human Magnetism. 10? 



*fcj 



\ 



results for two months. At the fifth sitting, be- 
ing satisfied with the result, I intended to con- 
tinue the experiment, giving the patients fresh 
arguments to try to get them to take some wa- 
ter which, this time, was more magnetized than 
ever, for I had left it under the action of the 
magnet for twenty-four hours. All my argu- 
ments were in vain ; not one of them would take 
it; they all told me it had no longer any effect 
on them. 

I was disappointed, for I was very desirous of 
continuing the experiment so well begun, but al- 
though fairly conclusive, it remained unfinished. 

It is necessary to note here that (without its 
chemical condition being modified) most patients 
find a particular flavor in magnetized water, en- 
abling them to distinguish it from the same wa- 
ter not magnetized. Magnetized with the righA 
hand or with the positive pole (X) of the mag- j) 
net, it takes an acidulated taste which renders it 
cool and pleasant; while magnetized with the 
left hand or with the negative ( — ) pole of the 
magnet, it has an alkaline flavor, rendering it 
tasteless and unpleasant. The first excites the 
functions of the stomach; the second diminishes 
them. Magnetized with both hands, or with 
both poles of the magnet, it possessed mixed prop- 
erties which suit most palates. 



108 The Theory and Practice 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Purpose of Magnetism — To Cai,m and to 
Stimulate — Importance of Knowing the How 
and the Why — Directions For Use. 

We know experimentally that the human body 
is polarized like a magnet, and that me^actiorToT 
one on the other of their opposite poles dimin- 
ishes organic activity, that is, calms, whereas that 
of their same poles augments this activity, that is, 
excites. But as the action of all the methods I 
have just indicated is not entirely explained by 
polarity, it is advisable to give here a few in- 
structions as to the manner of employing them, 
classing them according to their energy. 

To calm. In a severe disease, with the patient 
agitated, delirious, in intense fever, or suffering 
considerably, you must calm as much as possible. 
In order to do so, place yourself, at first, at the 
foot of the bed ; let your gaze fall gently on the 
chest or on the region of the stomach, and, if 
possible, apply your hands to his feet or on the 
lower part of the legs. This is the most calma- 
tive method the magnetizer can use. At the end 
of ten or thirt^minutes, as the case may be, the 



fever and the heat~~trf the body sensibly dimin- 
ish, agitation ceases, the delirium disappears, the 
pain is lessened and the patient enjoys a rest he 
may not have felt for a long time. This first re- 



of Human Magnetism. 109 

suit obtained, you may wait awhile, or continue 
the action in using methods calmative in a les- 
ser degree. In the latter case, standing at the pa- 
tient's side, you make heteronomous applications 
on the various parts of the body, and especially 
on the seat of the disease; then you terminate 
the seance with longitudinal passes practiced 
very slowly from the head to the epigastrium, and 
then from the chest to the extremities. 

If you have to deal with one of those numer- 
ous cases characterised by an augmentation of the 
organic activity, by pain, fever or any excitation 
in a patient who is not in bed, you must calm, 
but in a lesser degree than in the preceding case. 
In order to do so, and either standing or sitting 
in front of your patient, you begin by making 
applications on the hands, on the thighs, then on 
the different parts of the body, and especially on 
the seat of the pain. You then follow with lon- 
gitudinal passes practiced very slowly at first, 
from the head to the epigastrium, then from the 
chest as far as the extremities; after that, longi- 
tudinal passes practiced faster, from the head to 
the extremities. You terminate the seance with 
long passes from head to foot, so as to regularize 
the action. Neuralgic pains are calmed particu- 
larly by application of the hands, to the exclusion 
of all other methods. 

A hot, heavy and congested head is soon cleared 



no The Theory and Practice 

under the action of cold insufflation on the fore- 
head, by transversal passes practiced on the head 
and all around the upper part of the body, by the 
application of the hands on the knees and on the 
thighs, as far as the extremities, by long passes ; 
and especially, standing at your patient's left, by 
the application of your left hand to his forehead, 
the fingers extended, while your right hand exe- 
cutes slow rubbing on the vertebral column, from 
the base of the neck to the lower part of the 
back. 

To flycitp. It is a good plan always to 
begin your action without any roughness. Being 
seated in front of your patient, you first apply 
your hands on his in a heteronomous position, 
your knees against his knees and your feet 
against his feet, in order to establish what for- 
mer magnetizers used to call the rapport; then 
with your hands you make isonomous applica- 
tions on the various parts of the body, and more 
especially on the seat of the pain. Then longi- 
tudinal passes practiced in front of the patient, 
as if to calm, followed by palmar imposition, dig- 
ital imposition, and if you need considerable exci- 
tation, rotary, or even perforating, imposition. 
You finish up with slow and rotatory rubbings, 
and, if necessary, hot insufflation. 

In a great number of cases where it is neces- 
sary to stimulate one or all of the functions, it 



of Human Magnetism. m 

is advisable to excite at first, so as to calm after- 
ward. I need not enter into fuller details on 
this subject, for with a little common sense the 
reader will sufficiently understand which are the 
methods he can best combine in order to obtain 
the greatest amount of beneficial action he can 
hope for. 



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